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University  of  California. 

FROM   THE   LIBRARY   OF 

DR.    FRANCIS     LIEBER, 
Professor  of  History  and  Law  in  Columbia  College,  New  York. 


THE  GIFT  OK 

MICHAEL    REESE, 

Of  San  Francisco. 
1873. 


// 


University  of  California. 

FROM   THE   LIBRARY   OF 

DR.    FRANCIS     LIE13ER, 
Professor  of  History  and  Law  in  Columbia  College,  New  York. 


THE  GIFT  OF 

MICHAEL    REESE, 

Of  San  Francisco. 
1873. 


WHICH   HAVE   APPEARED 


IN  THE 


BANNER  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION, 


ADDRESSED  TO  THB  EDITOR, 


UNDER   THE   SIGNATURE   OF    HERMANN. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

PRINTED  BY  T.  W.  USTICK,  NO.  3,  FRANKLIN  PLACE. 

1831. 


&c. 


CHARLESTON,  January  16,  1830. 

Dear  Sir:  I  rejoice  that  you  persevere  in  advocating  the  cause  of 
Truth,  Free  Trade,  and  Liberal  Principles.  May  yeur  efforts  to  refute 
error  and  stem  the  tide  of  prejudice,  be  crowned  with  success.  How 
long,  my  good  sir,  are  we  to  submit  to  be  made  subservient  to  the 
contracted  and  mercenary  views  of  weavers  and  cotton  spinners,  and 
toil  to  please  the  champions  of  the  "  American  System,"  falsely  so 
termed.  Who  were  the  men  that  composed  the  armies  of  Washington 
and  the  gallant  Hero  of  New  Orleans  ?  Not  manufacturers,  but  the 
hardy  sons  of  the  forest,  and  the  brave  yeomanry  of  the  United  States. 
And  who  have  contributed,  by  a  well-directed  and  daring  spirit  of 
adventure,  to  elevate  this  Republic  to  the  rank  it  holds  among  the 
nations  of  the  world  ?  Surely  not  manufacturers,  but  our  enterprizing 
merchants  and  mariners.  What  baleful  talisman  keeps  us  bound  to 
this  ruinous  Tariff  system  ?  It  cannot  be  long  before  reason,  like  the 
radiant  light  of  the  sun,  will  break  through  the  clouds  of  prejudice 
and  ignorance  which  unfortunately  exist  in  the  Tariff  States,  and 
illumine  the  road  which  leads  to  the  best  interests  of  the  People. 
Commerce,  free  and  unfettered  commerce,  can  alone  give  us  power 
and  prosperity,  aided  by  agriculture.  The  framers  and  supporters 
of  this  partial,  unjust,  and  oppressive  law,  would  convert  our  barns 
into  warehouses  for  manufactured  goods,  our  ploughs  into  spindles, 
and  our  ships  into  looms ;  and  having  compelled  our  honest  tars  to 
quit  the  ocean,  they  will  at  length,  I  should  suppose,  presume  to 


usurp  the  dominion  of  it,  and,  in  the  language  of  Canute,  command 
the  sea  to  retire.    The  bountiful  God  of  Nature  has  made  the  ocean 
to  serve  as  the  common  highway  of  nations,  to  enable  them  to  ex- 
change, on  terms  of  reciprocity,  the  products  of  the  soil,  and  the 
various  articles  of  merchandise,  for  the  use  and  comfort  of  mankind, 
and  to  cultivate  peace,  friendship,  and  good  will  with  all,  "  entangling 
alliances  with  none."    Are  we  to  be  the  victims  of  a  spirit  of  infatua- 
tion, and,  by  the  mad  policy  of  visionary  men,  to  be  deprived  of  all 
these  advantages,  and  be  barred  out  from  the  rights  we  inherit  from 
our  forefathers?    Reason  and  justice  forbid  it.    I  venture  to  predict, 
that  if  this  odious  Tariff  be  persisted  in  for  two  years,  that  our  sailors 
will  be  either  driven  into  foreign  service,  or  become  smugglers,  many 
of  our  ships,  in  every  port,  will  be  laid  by  to  rot,  our  revenue  be 
diminished  one  half,  and,  to  end  all  our  calamities,  a  dissolution  of 
the  States.     But,  (to  use  a  nautical  phrase,)  I  do  not  yet  despair  of 
the  ship.    We  must  trust  to  the  returning  good  sense  and  energies  of 
the  people,  to  revive  the  good  principles  which  prevailed  under  the 
Washington  Administration,  and  by  dismissing  from  their  service  the 
enemies  to  Free  Trade,  once  more  re-establish  those  kind  feelings 
which  formerly  so  happily  existed  between  the  North  and  the  South. 
I  shall  hail  the  day  with  joy,  when  the  disciples  of  List,  Carey,  and 
Niles  shall  renounce  their  erroneous  theory.     I  sincerely  hope  that 
the  good  people  of  your  native  State,  (particularly  the  honest  Ger- 
mans and  their  descendants,)  will  not  be  misled  by  the  idle  clamor 
of  the  home  market  and  non-exportation  of  the  precious  metals. 
These  subjects,  which  have  been  so  ably  treated  on  by  that  admirable 
writer,  Jean  Baptiste  Say,  must  be  familiar  to  you.     He  remarks, 
"  By  the  exclusion  of  specific  manufactures  of  foreign  fabric,  a  go- 
vernment establishes  a  monopoly  in  favor  of  the  home  producers  of 
those  articles,  and  in  prejudice  of  the  home  consumers;  that  is  to 
say,  those  classes  of  the  nation  which  produce  them,  being  entitled 
to  their  exclusive  sale,  can  raise  their  prices  above  the  natural  rates, 
while  the  home  consumers,  being  unable  to  purchase  elsewhere,  are 
compelled  to  pay  for  them  unnaturally  dear.     If  the  articles  be  not 
wholly  prohibited,  but  merely  saddled  with  an  impost  duty,  the  home 
producers  can  then  increase  their  price  by  the  whole  amount  of  the 
duty,  and  the  consumer  will  have  to  pay  the  difference."    In  another 
place,  this  excellent  writer  observes  :  "  If  one  country  afford  to  ano- 
ther what  the  latter  wants  in  exchange,  what  more  would  she  have  ? 
Or,  in  what  respect  would  gold  be  preferable  ?  for  what  else  can  be 
wanted,  than  as  the  means  of  subsequently  purchasing  the  objects 


of  desire?"  If  the  friends  of  the  Tariff  would  only  consent  to  be 
guided  by  this  doctrine,  all  would  he  right,  and  our  country  would 
be  happy  and  united.  Wishing  you  success  in  a  just  cause,  &c. 

HERMANN. 


CHARLESTON,  February  28,  1830. 

Dear  Sir :  The  cause  of  Free  Trade  ought  not  to  escape  the  serious 
consideration  of  every  intelligent  man,  whether  he  be  in  or  out  of  the 
National  Legislature.    The  enemies  of  the  Tariff  are  rapidly  increas- 
ing in  every  section  of  the  United  States,  and  I  rejoice  to  hear  that 
a  revisal  of  it  occupies  some  part  of  the  precious  time  of  Congress. 
I  am  but  an  humble  citizen,  in  private  life,  and  devoted  to  the  culti- 
vation of  the  soil ;  but  were  I  a  member  of  that  honorable  body,  I 
should  conceive  it  to  be  a  paramount  duty  to  use  my  utmost  efforts 
to  assist  in  effecting  a  repeal  of  it,  and  thereby  yield  to  the  voice  of 
my  fellow-citizens,  which,  from  every  part  of  the  Union,  calls  loudly 
for  justice!     I  am  personally  acquainted  with  many  sensible  and 
worthy  men,  who,  on  the  passage  of  the  Tariff  Law  of  1828,  were 
among  its  warmest  friends,  but  are  now  convinced  of  their  error. 
"  Truth  is  powerful,  and  must  prevail."   They  are  indeed  truly  great 
who  can,  by  a  noble  triumph  over  their  feelings,  subdue  their  pre- 
judices ;  and  for  this  I  honor  and  respect  them.    We  are  all  liable 
to  err,  and  are  told  by  an  eminent  writer,  that  there  is  no  doctrine  so 
false,  but  it  may  be  intermixed  with  some  truth.     Laws  are  enacted 
for  the  preservation  of  our  political  rights  and  moral  welfare ;  but 
whatever  legislative  measure  militates  against  the  best  interests  of 
the  people,  must  weaken  the  ties  of  morality.     I  am  by  no  means 
inimical  to  domestic  manufactures;    but  a  law  which  has   for    its 
object  the  protection  of  manufactures,  to  the  injury  of  agriculture 
and  commerce,  must  be  productive  of  perjury  and  smuggling,   and 
injure  that  very  class  it  was  intended  to  serve.     How  unworthy  is 
this  avaricious  and  contracted  policy  of  the  Government  of  an  en- 
lightened people.     "  Quid  non  mortalia  pectora  cogis,  auri  sacra 
fames!" 

Manufactories,  while  judiciously  conducted,  and  based  on  capital, 
with  enterprize  and  mechanical  ingenuity,  will  prosper  without  the 
officious  aid  of  Government ;  let  their  growth  be  the  work  of  time, 
reared  by  the  hand  of  industry,  fostered  and  matured  by  the  good 


wishes  and  support  of  the  people  of  this  great  Republic,  but  not 
prematurely  forced  on  by  legislative  power.  We  are  informed  by  a 
speech  of  a  Senator  in  Congress,  from  Massachusetts,  that  the  United 
States  have  at  this  time  upwards  of  two  hundred  millions  of  acres  for 
sale ;  this  is  more  than  sufficient  to  maintain  thirty  millions  of  people, 
exclusive  of  the  vast  bodies  of  land  owned  by  companies  and  wealthy 
individuals.  Agriculture  has  a  charm  for  the  rich,  as  well  as  the 
poor,  which  will,  for  a  century  to  come,  oppose  obstacles  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  manufactures,  to  any  great  extent,  in  America.  It  is 
not  reasonable  to  presume  that  a  poor  emigrant  arriving  from  Europe, 
who  understands  the  use  of  the  plough  and  the  axe,  would  prefer  the 
confinement  of  a  manufactory  to  the  cheerful,  healthy,  and  inde- 
pendent life  of  a  husbandman.  What  man  can  be  found,  who  would 
not  exchange  a  life  of  drudgery  and  comparative  servility,  for  that 
of  a  freeholder  ?  We  know  that  land  can  be  obtained  in  the  Southern 
and  Western  States  at  the  most  trifling  expense;  and  if  half  the 
efforts  had  been  made  to  encourage  emigrants  to  settle  on  the  public 
lands,  which  have  been  made  use  of  for  promoting  manufactures,  the 
nation  would  be  infinitely  more  united  and  happy ;  and  if  the  same 
amount  of  money  which  has  been  sent  from  the  United  States  for  the 
inhabitants  of  Ireland  and  Greece,  had  been  bestowed  in  affording 
to  the  persecuted  of  those  countries  an  asylum  in  America,  and 
establishing  them  under  the  humane  patronage  of  the  Government, 
as  cultivators  of  the  soil,  the  cause  of  humanity,  and  the  interest  of 
the  nation,  would  be  more  promoted  than  by  any  other  mode  which 
could  be  devised.  What  more  cogent  objection  can  be  produced  to 
the  increase  and  extension  of  manufactures,  than  the  fact  which  has 
been  stated,  "  that  the  United  States  have  in  the  market  more  than 
two  hundred  millions  of  acres  surv.eyed  and  ready  for  sale?"  And 
must  this  immense  region  remain  a  wilderness  for  want  of  laborers! 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  (according  to  the  best  authority,)  with  a 
population  of  twenty-two  millions,  comprise  only  eighty-five  millions 
of  acres ;  and  from  necessity,  more  than  choice,  are  devoted  to  manu- 
factures. The  population  of  the  United  States  consists  of  thirteen 
millions,  and  the  Territory  of  Arkansas  is  alone  nearly  equal  in 
extent  to  Great  Britain ;  and  yet  we  are  so  infatuated  as  to  be  ambi- 
tious of  rivalling  her  in  manufactures.  Heaven  knows  there  is 
nothing  enviable  in  the  condition  of  any  manufacturing  nation  of 
Europe.  It  is  truly  absurd  to  be  jealous  of  the  prosperity  of  Britain, 
France,  or  any  other  country:  on  the  contrary,  we  have  cause  for, 
exultation,  that  Providence  has  enabled  us  to  cultivate  a  friendlv 


intercourse  with  them  for  the  -benefit  of  the  human  race.     If  we  are 
opposed  to  British  manufactures,  we  are  not  averse  to  partake  of  the 
bounty  of  benevolent  Englishmen  to  aid  in  establishing  Colleges  and 
Theological  Seminaries ;  and,  for  the  purpose  of  forwarding  Internal 
Improvements,  we  feel  no  reluctance  in  borrowing  money  from  the 
honest,  laborious,  and  enterprizing  Dutch.   A  late  illustrious  writer,* 
has  justly  observed,  thit  the  more  extended  and  the  more  constant 
intercourse  which  the  improvements  in  commerce  and  in  the  art  of 
navigation  have  opened  among  the  distant  quarters  of  the  globe, 
cannot  fail  to  operate  in  undermining  local  and  national  prejudices, 
and   imparting  to  the  whole  species  the  intellectual  acquisitions  of 
each  particular  community.    The  accumulated  experience  of  ages 
has  already  taught  the  rulers  of  mankind,  that  the  most  fruitful  and 
the  most  permanent  sources  of  revenue  are  to  be  derived,  not  from 
conquered  and  tributary  provinces,  but  from  the  internal  prosperity 
and  wealth  of  their  own  subjects :  and  the  same  expe'rience  now 
begins  to  teach  nations,  that  the  increase  of  their  own  wealth,  so  far 
from  depending  on  the  poverty  and  depression  of  their  neighbors, 
is  intimately  connected  with  their  industry  and  opulence ;  and,  con- 
sequently, that  those  commercial  jealousies  which  have  hitherto  been 
so  fertile  a  source  of  animosity  among  different  States,  are  founded 
entirely  on  ignorance  and  prejudice."    One  of  the  greatest  evils 
which  has  already  ensued  from  the  present  Tariff,  is  smuggling.  This 
will  increase  to  a  most  alarming  extent ;  and  not  all  the  power  of  the 
Federal  Government  can  ever  prevent  it.  The  odious  law  is  not  only 
destructive  of  the  moral  welfare,  but  of  the   best  interests  of  the 
people.    It  is  as  unjust  and  oppressive  to  persist  in  the  execution  of 
it,  as  it  would  be  to  compel  the  farmers  to  sell  their  produce  at  home, 
and  exclude  them  from  the  benefit  of  a  foreign  market ;  one  act  of 
oppression  soon  leads  to  another.     If,  by  partial  and  unjust  laws, 
you  divert  trade  from  its  natural  and  regular  course,  and  by  extort- 
ing from  other  countries  more  than  they  are  disposed  to  exact  from 
you,  they  will  be  forced  to  prefer  other  markets  than  your  own,  and  it 
will  be  attended  not  only  with  serious  loss  and  embarrassment,  but 
it  will  be  very  difficult,  i?  not  impossible,  ever  to  regain  our  influ- 
ence and  rank  in  the  commercial  world.     An  eminent  French  author 
very  aptly  remarks,  that,  in  pursuit  of  what  it  mistakes  for  profound 
policy,  or  to  gratify  feelings  it  supposes  to  be  laudable,  a  government 
will  sometimes  prohibit,  or  divert  the  course  of  a  particular  trade, 

*  Dugald  Stewart. 


8 

and  thereby  do  irreparable  mischief  to  the  productive  powers  of  that 
nation.  When  Philip  II.  became  master  of  Portugal,  and  forbade 
all  intercourse  between  his  new  subjects  arid  the  Dutch,  whom  he 
detested,  what  was  the  consequence?  The  Dutch,  who  before  resort- 
ed to  Lisbon  for  the  manufactures  of  India,  of  which  they  took  an 
immense  quantity,  finding  this  avenue  closed  against  their  industry, 
went  straight  to  India  for  what  they  wanted,  and,  in  the  end,  drove 
out  the  Portuguese  from  that  quarter ;  and  what  was  meant  as  the 
deadly  blow  of  inveterate  hatred,  turned  out  the  main  source  of  their 
aggrandizement.  I  do  most  sincerely  hope,  that  the  friends  of  Free 
Trade  will  persevere  in  their  laudable  efforts  to  destroy  the  spirit  o^ 
monopoly  which  so  unfortunately  exists  in  the  very  body  of  the  pre- 
sent Tariff  Law ;  and  which,  if  not  soon  extinguished,  must  involve 
these  States  in  the  deepest  distress.  If  the  manufacturers  of  the 
North  are  desirous  of  the  good  wishes  and  support  of  their  fellow- 
citizens  of  the  South,  they  must  abandon  the  Restrictive  System  ;  and 
by  so  doing  they  will  secure  not  only  a  disposition  to  favor  American 
manufactures,  but  they  will  give  the  fatal  blow  to  smuggling,  and 
restore  harmony,  unanimity,  and  prosperity,  among  the  people  of  the 
United  States. 

HERMANN. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,  February,  1830. 

Dear  Sir:  Every  advocate  of  liberal  principles  must  feel  a  deep 
interest  in  the  success  of  your  valuable  paper,  which  sustains  with 
great  ability  the  cause  of  Free  Trade,  against  the  most  preposterous 
doctrines  which  have  ever  been  advanced  in  this  country,  and  must, 
if  persevered  in,  not  only  destroy  commerce,  and  reduce  to  misery 
our  brave  and  worthy  mariners,  but  rend  asunder  those  ties  which 
were  cemented  by  the  precious  blood  of  the  Revolution,  and  have 
hitherto  bound  the  North  to  the  South  in  strict  friendship  and  har- 
mony ;  and  God  grant  that  this  social  compact  may  never  be  cancelled 
by  hypocrisy  and  blind  infatuation.  It  remains  for  the  Banner  of 
the  Constitution  to  rally  the  champions  of  Free  Trade  and  Sailors' 
Rights,  and  to  invoke  the  God  of  Freedom  to  protect  this  happy 
Republic  from  the  iron  grasp  of  the  Tariff  monster.  Your  friends 
must  aid  you  in  exposing  its  naked  deformities,  and  in  exhibiting  to 
the  view  of  the  people  its  hideous  features ;  like  a  Typhon  or  a  Bri- 


9 

areus,  it  only  exists  to  devour.  Sir,  in  order  more  effectually  td ' 
convince  the  people  of  the  absurdity  of  the  present  Tariff,  we  must 
lay  aside  all  the  abstruse  principles  of  political  economy,  and  adapt 
our  language  and  reasoning  to  their  understanding,  in  plain  matter 
of  fact  and  common  sense  addresses :  they  have  a  right  to  expect  it 
from  us,  and  to  be  warned  against  the  danger  which  threatens  to 
involve  them  in  ruin.  We  must  know  if  they  are  willing  to  submit 
to  be  instrumental  in  pampering  a  few  lordly  proprietors  of  cotton 
and  woollen  manufactories.  The  hardy  yeomanry  of  this  country, 
and  the  honest  laborers,  (especially  those  inhabiting  your  native  State,) 
cannot  much  longer  sanction  a  law  which  will  ultimately  ruin  our 
foreign  commerce,  and  reduce  the  revenue  to  so  paltry  a  sum  that 
the  Government  will  be  obliged  to  resort  to  direct  taxes. 

Of  all  the  measures  which  ever  disgraced  a  free  nation,  the  Tariff 
is  the  most  prominent.  Consider  it  as  you  may,  it  is  partial,  unjust, 
and  oppressive ;  a  spirit  of  monopoly  gave  birth  to  it,  and  it  is  nourish- 
ed by  sordid  interests,  for  the  benefit  of  a  few.  Is  this  grovelling 
passion,  then,  to  triumph,  and  corrupt  the  generous  feelings  of  the 
sons  of  WASHINGTON,  under  the  perverted  and  hypocritical  term  of 
the  American  System  ?  speciously  invented  to  favor  the  views  of  a 
party,  who,  whatever  may  be  their  motives,  will,  I  trust,  ere  long 
witness  its  downfall,  beneath  the  frowns  of  an  indignant  people.  A 
highly  estimable  statesman  lately  declared  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  that  the  people  of  America  are,  and  ought  to  be  for 
a  century  to  come,  essentially  an  agricultural  people  ! 

There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  truth  of  this  assertion.  The  vast 
field  which  agriculture  opens  to  enterprize,  and  the  blessings  it  dif- 
fuses, will  for  a  long  time  oppose  various  obstacles  to  the  prosperity 
of  manufactures.  Immorality,  ignorance,  poverty,  and  disease,  are, 
unhappily,  too  often  the  inmates  of  manufactories  in  the  large  cities 
of  Europe,  which  present  a  sad  picture  of  squalid  wretchedness.  Let 
this  serve  as  a  warning  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  not  to 
embark  too  extensively  in  manufactures.  In  the  New  England  States, 
a  crowded  and  intelligent  population  cannot  fail  to  support  manufac- 
tories under  the  most  favorable  circumstances ;  and,  if  left  to  their 
own  ingenuity  and  resources,  they  must  prosper  :  they  should  reject 
the  interference  of  the  General  Government,  if  they  wish  to  secure 
the  hearty  co-operation  and  zealous  support  of  their  friends  in  the 
Southern  States.  The  existing  Tariff  Law  is  fraught  with  dire  cala- 
mity to  the  people  of  the  United  States.  It  will  be  productive  of 
many  evils.  If  it  does  not  lead  to  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  it  will 
2 


10 

at  least  excite  hostile  and  angry  feelings.  It  has  already  given  rise 
to  extensive  smuggling ;  it  will,  from  necessity,  oblige  many  of  our 
poor  mariners  to  engage  in  it,  whilst  it  will  drive  others  to  seek  for 
employment  in  foreign  service.  It  will  be  difficult  to  prevent  frauds 
from  being  practised  on  the  officers  of  the  customs.  It  has  reduced 
the  value  of  our  lands  and  the  wages  of  the  poor.  The  price  of  pro- 
duce is  much  depreciated.  It  will  check  the  spirit  of  emigration, 
and  thereby  retard  the  improvement  of  the  Southern  and  Western 
States.  It  will  diminish  a  friendly  intercourse  with  the  civilized 
nations  of  the  world,  and  force  them  to  other  markets  for  cotton, 
wheat,  rice,  tobacco,  and  lumber,  and  by  that  means  inflict  a  severe 
wound  on  our  agricultural  and  commercial  interests.  It  is  fallacious 
to  suppose  that  a  home  market  can  consume  one-third  of  the  produce 
of  the  United  States.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  majority  in  Con- 
gress will  have  the  magnanimity  to  acknowledge  their  error,  and 
annul  a  law  which  is  found  on  experiment  to  be  vexatious  and 
unjust,  and  which,  if  persisted  in,  will  create  general  distress  among 
all  classes,  and,  by  encouraging  smuggling,  injure  the  very  people  it 
was  intended  to  serve.  There  would  be  as  much  justice  in  exacting 
a  toll  from  every  ship  that  crosses  the  Atlantic,  as  continuing  in 
force  the  present  Tariff  Law.  Accept  my  sincere  good  wishes  for  the 
success  of  the  Banner  of  the  Constitution ;  and  may  it  ever  be  raised 
for  the  protection  of  Free  Trade  and  Sailors'  Rights. 

HERMANN. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,  April  7,  1830. 

Dear  Sir:  You  are  not  to  infer  from  my  long  silence  that  I  despair 
of  the  cause  of  Free  Trade,  of  which  I  am  happy  to  find  you  con- 
tinue the  able  advocate.  The  champions  of  the  Tariff  were  enabled 
to  carry  their  point  only  by  dint  of  the  utmost  perseverance,  and 
suffered  no  favorable  opportunities  to  escape  to  make  converts  to 
their  doctrines ;  and  were  ably  seconded  by  their  friends,  who  suc- 
cessfully executed  a  well-organized  plan  of  public  meetings,  to  aid 
in  adopting  their  "American  System^"  as  they  have  been  pleased  to 
term  it;  and,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  to  give  a  more  imposing 
effect  to  their  deliberations,  a  Convention  was  held  at  Harrisburg, 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  in  the  very  heart  of  a  rich  and  beautiful  coun- 
try, inhabited  by  an  industrious  and  enterorizinsr  neoole,  devoted  to 


11 

agriculture,  who,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  remain  passive  under  an  odious 
and  oppressive  law,  passed  by  Congress  in  obedience  to  the  proceed- 
ings of  that  very  Convention ;  and  which,  while  it  fails  to  answer 
the  expectations  of  the  manufacturer,  strongly  militates  against  the 
farmer  and  merchant.  If  the  friends  of  Free  Trade  would  act  with 
half  the  energy  that  characterizes  their  opponents,  we  should  soon 
witness  a  termination  to  a  system  so  derogatory  to  a  free  people,  and 
pernicious  to  their  interests.  Let  us  use  no  stratagem,  no  sophistry; 
but  address  our  fellow-citizens  throughout  the  United  States  in  the 
plain  language  of  truth;  and,  by  a  dispassionate  and  ingenuous 
appeal  to  their  good  sense,  ask  if  they  will  submit  to  be  the  dupes 
of  a  party,  which  persists  in  supporting  a  law  that  imposes  heavy 
duties  on  some  articles  of  the  greatest  use  to  the  poor,  and  not  only 
renders  the  agriculturists  tributary  to  the  manufacturers,  but  im- 
poverishes both  merchants  and  mariners.  Let  us  request  them  to 
give  an  attentive  perusal  to  the  very  able  and  argumentative  Memo- 
rial of  the  Boston  Merchants,  as  well  as  to  the  convincing  and  lucid 
Reports  of  Mr.  Cambreleng,  of  N.  York,  and  Mr.  McDuffie,  of  S. 
Carolina.  These  most  important  documents  have  fully  exposed  and 
refuted  the  Tariff  doctrine,  and  should  be  read  by  every  unprejudiced 
man  who  is  friendly  to  foreign  commerce.  It  is  a  happy  circum- 
stance that  we  live  in  a  country  where  no  sedition  laws  exist,  to 
prevent  us  from  freely  canvassing  the  measures  of  the  Government, 
and  where  the  sentiments  of  the  most  humble  citizen  can  be  convey- 
ed, through  the  press,  without  being  dismayed  by  the  arm  of  tyranny, 
or  intimidated  by  the  jargon  and  prating  of  demagogues.  We  depend 
on  your  highly  intelligent  paper  for  the  earliest  and  most  authentic 
information  relative  to  any  change  which  may  occur  in  Congress  in 
favor  of  Free  Trade.  The  people  anxiously  await  the  wisdom  of  that 
body  to  grant  them  relief.  Suspense  is  painfully  irksome ;  and,  in 
the  words  of  an  eminent  writer,  "  there  is  a  point  beyond  which 
patience  ceases  to  be  a  virtue,  and  degenerates  into  weakness." 
There  is  a  crisis  in  national  affairs  when  the  voice  of  an  enlightened 
people  must  be  heard,  and  when  the  mask  of  duplicity  must  be  laid 
aside.  Proceed,  my  good  sir,  in  your  career  of  usefulness,  and  may 
the  BANNER  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  be  ever  raised  in  behalf  of  the 
rights  of  your  countrymen,  and  be  to  them  the  same  fearless  and 
zealous  champion  at  home,  that  you  have  been  so  honorably  in  a 
foreign  country.  THE  BANNER  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  will  need  no 
brazen  trumpet  to  proclaim  its  triumph ;  no  mockery  of  empty  pa- 
geantry to  mark  its  progress.  You  need  use  no  metaphorical  Ian- 


12 

guage — no  ribaldry — no  affectation  of  the  merveilleux.  In  pursuing 
the  solemn  and  delightful  march  of  intellect,  you  will  never  deviate 
from  the  path  of  rectitude ;  and  I  trust  that,  in  making  honor  and 
consistency  the  rule  of  your  conduct,  you  will  never  cease  to  vindi- 
cate the  principles  of  Free  Trade  and  Sailors'  Rights !  Admitting 
the  motives  of  the  friends  of  the  Tariff  to  be  perfectly  patriotic  and 
disinterested,  they  will  soon  have  cause  to  be  convinced  of  the  failure 
of  their  projects,  and  the  manufacturers  will  learn  how  much  more 
beneficial  it  will  be  to  trust  to  their  own  resources,  than  to  confide  too 
implicitly  to  the  officious  zeal  and  ill-timed  interference  of  their 
political  friends.  What  atonement  will  the  friends  of  the  Tariff  be 
able  to  make  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  for  the  loss  of  the 
greater  part  of  their  most  valuable  foreign  trade  ?  What  reparation 
can  they  afford  the  merchants  and  ship  owners,  if  they  are  reduced 
to  a  state  of  bankruptcy  1  What  will  be  the  situation  of  the  greater 
part  of  a  hundred  thousand  sailors,  if  their  interests  are  to  be  sa- 
crificed to  a  most  ruinous  and  disgraceful  policy?  Is  it  in  the 
South  and  South-western  States  alone,  that  the  evil  effects  of  the 
Restrictive  System  are  felt  ?  Ask  the  most  enlightened  merchants 
and  agriculturists,  through  every  section  of  the  United  States,  their 
opinion  of  the  measure,  and  they  will  readily  pronounce  it  to  be 
partial  and  oppressive.  Our  great  commercial  cities  already  feel  the 
pressure  of  the  times,  and  cannot  much  longer  endure  the  hardships 
imposed  on  them  by  a  destructive  spirit  of  monopoly.  It  is  in  the 
power  of  the  General  Government  to  heal  the  wound  inflicted  by  a 
precipitate  and  ill-directed  experiment.  Our  rulers  may  be  admo- 
nished by  the  language  of  a  great  moral  writer,  "  that  no  usage,  law, 
or  authority  whatever,  is  so  binding  that  it  need  or  ought  to  be  con- 
tinued, when  it  may  be  changed  with  advantage  to  the  community." 
The  same  oracular  voice  warns  us  against  submitting  to  oppression, 
and  tells  us,  "  that  physical  strength  is  vested  not  in  the  governors, 
but  the  governed;  and  requires  only  to  be  felt  and  roused,"  Legis- 
lative bodies  are  instituted,  in  every  free  nation,  by  the  people,  for 
the  express  purpose  of  protecting  their  rights,  to  enact  such  equita- 
ble laws  as  may  secure  to  all  classes  of  the  community  the  full  en- 
joyment of  life,  liberty,  and  property.  We  are  taught  to  believe  that 
nothing  but  good  can  emanate  from  the  Federal  Constitution ;  it 
follows,  therefore,  that  if  an  act  of  Congress  is  productive  of  evil, 
(as  in  the  case  of  the  Tariff,)  it  must  be  repugnant  to  the  spirit  and 
principles  of  the  Constitution. 

If  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Tariff  party  to  retaliate  on  the  British 


13 

nation  for  the  exhorbitant  duties  levied  on  our  flour,  rice,  tobacco, 
&c.  &c.,  then  why  not  confine  the  Restrictive  System  to  that  nation 
and  her  dominions,  until  an  honorable  and  amicable  arrangement 
can  be  made  with  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  to  trade  on  terms 
of  reciprocity.     Under  pretence  of  retaliating  on  Great  Britain,  the 
Tariff  monster  was  let  loose,  to  devour  indiscriminately  all  who  have 
come  within  its  grasp.     It  spares  neither   French,  Germans,  nor 
Dutch.   Is  this  the  grateful  reward  we  pay  to  the  brave  French  nation, 
for  services  she  rendered  our  country  during  the  Revolution  1    And 
must  the  Germans  and  Dutch,  who  have  done  more  to  enrich  the 
United  States,  by  their  honest  industry,  than  all  the  mines  of  Peru 
could  effect,  must  they,  too,  be  sacrificed  to  artifice  and  to  political 
intrigue  ?  must  they  be  made  to  toil  for  the  benefit  of  weavers  and 
cotton  spinners?  to  be  confined  to  a  home  market,  and,  by  an  arbi- 
trary law,  be  shut  out  from  the  blessings  of  a  free  trade  and  foreign 
commerce  1  Descendants  of  Hermann  and  Van  Tromp !   Freedom  is 
your  birthright !  and  as  long  as  you  cultivate  the  soil  of  America  you 
have  a  just  right  to  all  the  advantages  your  industry  can  give ;  there 
is  not  an  able-bodied  man  among  you,  but  he  may  make  ten  times 
as  much  corn  as  he  can  possibly  consume :  the  home  market,  there- 
fore, is  soon  glutted,  and  foreign  markets  must  be  found  for  the 
surplus  produce.     The  Tariff  policy  is  selfish  and  ungenerous  ;  for 
it  not  only  debars  us  from  free  intercourse  with  all  the  world,  but 
it  depreciates  land  and  labor,  and  the  products  of  the  soil ;  is  inimi- 
cal to  the  poor,  and  will  exclude  from  the  sea  our  hardy  mariners ; 
whilst  it  discourages  many  thousands  of  useful  and  necessitous  people 
from  emigrating  to  America,  where  several  hundred  millions  of  acres 
of  land  are  yet  to  be  cultivated. 

I  remain  yours,  &/c. 

HERMANN. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,  February  7,  1831. 

Dear  Sir:  The  friends  of  Free  Trade  and  Sailors'  Rights  have 
much  reason  to  rejoice  that  you  have  transferred  the  Banner  of  the 
Constitution  to  the  great  commercial  city  of  New  York,  and  in  sight 
of  that  blessed  Ocean  which  the  Almighty  has  ordained  to  be  the 
high  road  of  nations,  by  which  a  friendly  intercourse  can  be  kept 
up,  with  a  liberal  interchange  of  all  those  commodities  which  the 


14 

industry  of  man  can  furnish,  aided  by  the  bounty  of  Providence, 
Foreign  commerce  is  so  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  the  United 
States,  that  no  oppressive  or  unjust  legislative  proceedings  ought 
to  interfere  with  the  honest  efforts  and  enterprize  of  our  merchants. 
It  has  ever  been  the  sincere  wish  of  every  true  patriot,  that  they 
might  be  permitted  to  enjoy  a  free  and  unfettered  trade  with  all  quar- 
ters of  the  globe  ;  but  the  Tariff,  like  the  destructive  pestilence  of 
Egypt,  has  spread  dismay  among  them  ;  they  are  left  to  struggle  with 
adversity,  and  their  enemies  would  compel  them  to  abandon  the 
golden  sands  of  Pactolus  for  the  dismal  shores  of  Cocytus.  The 
proud  and  honorable  title  of  American  Merchant  will  soon  be  extinct ; 
the  deadly  triumph  of  the  American  System  will  be  complete,  and 
its  votaries  will  revel  with  a  bacchanalian  joy,  characteristic  of  their 
mad  ambition  to  rear  up  manufactures,  and  make  a  wreck  of  agri- 
culture and  commerce.  Sir,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  the 
Tariff  of  1828  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  an  exercise 
of  power  that  would  disgrace  an  Ottoman  Divan,  in  this  enlightened 
age ;  and  if  Congress  are  determined  to  persevere  in  the  enforcement 
of  it — then,  adieu  to  that  liberty  for  which  the  precious  blood  of  our 
Revolutioary  heroes  was  shed — adieu  to  the  Constitution  which  the 
united  wisdom  of  our  patriot  statesmen  framed  to  shield  us  from 
oppressions,  and  to  be  a  guarantee  for  equitable  laws  and  equal 
rights.  I  believe  most  conscienciously  that  the  Restrictive  System 
could  never  have  been  adopted  in  the  days  of  Washington  ;  the  very 
attempt  to  impose  such  a  measure  on  the  people  would  have  been 
considered  an  act  of  madness.  All  monopolies  in  a  free  country,  are 
odious  and  oppressive,  and  ought  to  be  resisted ;  they  engender  a  spirit 
of  selfishness,  and  are  only  created  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  a  few 
avaricious  adventurers.  "  Who,"  says  an  eniment  French  writer,  "are 
the  classes  of  the  community  so  importunate  for  prohibitions  or 
heavy  import  duties  ?  The  producer  of  the  particular  commodity 
that  applies  for  protection  from  competition,  not  the  consumers  of 
that  commodity.  The  public  interest  is  their  plea,  but  self-interest 
is  evidently  their  object.  Well,  but  say  these  gentry,  are  they  not 
the  same  thing?  are  not  our  gains  national  gains?  By  no  means: 
whatever  profit  is  acquired  in  this  manner,  is  so  much  taken  out  of  the 
pockets  of  a  neighbor  and  fellow-citizen ;  and  if  the  excess  of  charge 
thrown  upon  consumers  by  the  monopoly  could  be  correctly  com- 
puted, it  would  be  found  that  the  loss  of  the  consumer  exceeds  the 
gain  of  the  monopolist.  Here,  then,  individual  and  public  interest 
are  in  direct  opposition  to  each  other ;  and  since  public  interest  is 


15 

understood  by  the  enlightened  few  alone,  is  it  at  all  surprising  that 
the  Prohibitive  System  should  find  so  many  partisans  and  so  few 
opponents?  Let  the  people  beware  of  false  friends  and  insidious 
demagogues.  We  are  not  without  our  Polignacs,  who  regard  their 
own  interest  more  than  the  welfare  of  the  Republic.  I  do  not  im- 
peach the  motives  of  respectable  and  enlightened  manufacturers — for 
many  of  them  have  already  proclaimed  to  the  nation  that  they  are 
willing  to  trust  to  their  own  resources ;  they  do  not  require  the  fawn- 
ing adulations  of  popularity  seekers ;  they  want  not  the  officious  and 
extravagant  aid  of  the  Government ;  their  motto  is,  "  laissez  nous 
faire ;"  their  probity  is  their  surest  safeguard.  To  these  worthy  men  I 
would  say,  God  prosper  you !  and  grant  you  the  support  and  good 
wishes  of  the  people  through  every  section  of  the  United  States. 

I  have  no  sectional  prejudices  or  enmities — they  are  the  offspring 
of  contracted  minds.  I  seek  the  good  of  my  country,  and  desire  no 
other  reward  than  an  approving  conscience.  I  will  not  subject  my 
tongue  to  a  gag-law ;  but  as  long  as  the  liberty  of  the  press  exists,  I 
will  claim  the  privilege  of  a  freeman,  in  holding  up  to  public  execra- 
tion tyranny,  in  whatever  form  it  may  appear.  I  will  not  degrade 
myself  by  vituperative,  scurrilous,  and  vulgar  abuse,  which  some  of 
our  opponents  have  descended  to  use ;  nor  will  your  correspondent 
shrink  from  a  candid  and  honorable  controversy.  The  Tariff  con- 
test has  produced  for  us  many  adversaries,  but  theirs  is  an  unhal- 
lowed cause,  and  must  fail.  We  are  not  afraid  to  meet  them  in  a 
fair  and  open  field,  and  will  never  yield  to  those  who  have  armed 
against  Free  Trade  and  Sailors'  Rights.  To  expose  the  naked 
deformity  of  the  "  American  System"  is  certainly  no  difficult  task ; 
facts  can  be  adduced  from  the  works  of  the  most  eminent  writers  the 
world  has  ever  produced,  to  defeat  the  champions  of  high  tariffs  and 
prohibitory  laws.  It  is  only  necessary  to  mention  the  names  of  Fe- 
nelon,  Dugald  Stewart,  Say,  Washington,  Hamilton,  and  Jefferson, 
to  dissolve  the  wild  theories  which  have  been  advanced  in  favor  of  the 
Tariff.  If  the  opinions  of  these  illustrious  men  are  to  be  disregarded, 
then  is  sound  reasoning  useless,  and  wisdom  of  no  avail  in  the  cause 
of  truth.  Has  not  our  estimable  President  (the  honest  politician  and 
enlightened  statesman)  recommended  a  revision  of  the  present  Tariff 
Law  to  Congress?  Has  not  the  same  victorious  Jackson,  (the  man 
of  the  people,  and  their  fearless  vindicator)  pointed  out  the  neces- 
sity of  some  modification  ?  But  his  advice  has  been  spurned  and 
rejected.  And  has  it  come  to  this,  that  he  must  be  treated  with 
contumely  ?  Will  not  the  people  hurl  from  their  seats  those  who  have 
thus  slighted  their  favorite,  who  has,  in  the  mildest  manner,  offered 


16 

his  wise  and  judicious  counsel,  in  what  relates  to  their  dearest  inter- 
ests 1  It  is  high  time  that  the  poor  should  be  roused  to  a  sense  of 
danger  of  the  evils  that  will  arise  from  this  same  Tariff  Law.  Like 
a  prowling  wolf  in  sheep's  clothing,  it  fattens  on  the  vitals  of  the 
innocent  lamb,  and  seeks  to  devour  those  who  are  most  unsuspicious, 
and  least  capable  of  defending  themselves.  The  whole  fabric  is 
rotten,  from  its  very  foundation — it  cannot  last,  for  it  is  based  on 
corruption.  The  Tariff  does  not  materially  affect  the  rich,  but  it 
makes  a  victim  of  the  poor  man;  he  is  taxed  without  mercy  on 
almost  every  necessary  article  he  consumes ;  he  is  misled  by  false 
doctrines,  to  flatter  and  beguile  him  into  a  tacit  consent  to  wear  the 
yoke,  at  the  will  and  pleasure  of  his  oppressors,  that  he  may  assist 
to  pamper  the  lordly  cultivator  of  sugar,  the  rich  proprietors  of  salt 
and  iron  works,  and  the  wealthy  manufacturers  of  cotton  and  wool- 
len stuffs. 

The  Tariff  is  a  serious  obstacle  to  the  facility  of  promoting  useful 
knowledge.  It  may,  perhaps,  benefit  a  few  great  publishers  in 
America,  but  it  taxes  heavily  foreign  books,  maps,  paintings,  paper, 
&c.  In  the  true  spirit  of  Vandalism,  it  wages  war  against  the  arts  and 
sciences.  It  spares  neither  mind  nor  body.  It  injures  most  severely 
merchants,  farmers,  planters,  ship  owners,  sailors,  mechanics,  and 
the  laboring  poor  who  toil  in  the  fields,  the  forest,  and  the  work  shop; 
but  if  they  presume  to  murmur  against  the  "  American,"  or  I  ought 
rather  to  term  it  the  gulling  system,  then  they  attempt  to  use  the 
gag-law,  or,  in  place  of  argument,  they  revile,  rebuke,  and  denounce 
them  as  nullifiers  and  disunionists.  Sir,  we  live  in  "  evil  times," 
when  honest  men  are  persecuted  to  elevate  the  enemies  of  Free 
Trade,  that  they  may  grow  rich  at  the  expense  of  the  merchant,  the 
farmer,  and  the  mariner.  I  venture  to  assert,  that  if  the  brave  peo- 
ple of  France  were  placed  in  possession  of  the  uncultivated  and 
fertile  territory  now  owned  by  the  Americans,  with  similar  unbound- 
ed commercial  and  agricultural  resources,  that  they  would  rise  in 
the  majesty  of  their  strength,  (with  their  beloved  La  Fayette  at  their 
head,)  to  resist  a  law  which  will  impoverish  the  people,  pick 
their  pockets,  relax  their  morals,  loosen  the  sacred  bands  of  society, 
introduce  smuggling,  and  drive  our  brave  tars  from  the  Ocean,  to 
seek  refuge  on  sickly  lakes  and  muddy  canals,  or  make  them  car- 
men for  rail-roads.  These  are  but  a  few  plain  hints :  I  have  yet 
more  in  reserve,  and  trust  they  may  find  their  way  among  such  as 
are  unwilling  to  be  duped  by  the  machinations  of  political  jugglers. 
Your  obedient  servant, 

HERMANN. 


17 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,  March,  1831. 

Dear  Sir:  The  majority  in  Congress,  like  the  satellites  of  Chajles 
the  Tenth,  presume  to  think  themselves  fully  capable  of  governing 
the  people,  without  being  called  upon  to  answer  for  their  errors. 
During  their  two  last  sessions,  we  were  kept  in  anxious  expectation 
that  the  Tariff,  so  justly  termed  "  the  bill  of  abominations,"  if  not 
repealed  in  toto,  would,  at  least,  have  been  modified  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  afford  relief  to  an  injured  people.  The  President, 
from  a  zealous  devotion  to  the  public  interest,  recommended 
some  alterations  of  the  law,  as  he  wisely  thought  there  was 
a  necessity  to  repeal  the  obnoxious  parts,  which  bear  particu- 
larly hard  on  certain  portions  of  the  population  of  the  United 
States ;  and  without  reference  to  any  section  of  the  Union,  his  mo- 
tive was,  no  doubt,  to  benefit  the  poorer  classes  of  all  who  are 
engaged  in  agriculture,  commerce,  and  the  mechanic  trades.  In 
his  Message  he  expressly  says :  "  The  present  Tariff  taxes  some 
of  the  comforts  of  life  unnecessarily  high  ;  it  undertakes  to  protect 
interests  too  local  and  minute  to  justify  a  general  exaction,  and  it 
also  attempts  to  force  some  kinds  of  manufactures  for  which  the 
country  is  not  ripe."  What  can  be  more  just  than  these  re- 
marks ?  Was  it  not  due  to  the  feelings  of  this  faithful  friend  of  his 
country,  that  his  advice  should  be  received  with  the  most  prompt 
and  respectful  attention  ?  The  very  reverse  was  the  case.  His  pru- 
dent recommendations  were  criticised  in  the  most  improper  manner, 
and  rejected  with  contumely.  The  President  felt  it  to  be  a  duty  he 
owed  his  fellow-citizens,  to  exercise  a  virtuous  influence  to  relieve 
them  from  the  burdens  of  taxation ;  for,  although  friendly  to  manu- 
factures, he  is  inimical  to  oppression.  Every  part  of  his  able  Mes- 
sage ought  to  have  been  distinguished  by  a  calm  deliberation,  and 
free  and  dignified  discussion.  The  people  of  the  United  States  are 
insulted  when  an  indignity  is  offered  to  their  Chief  Magistrate ;  and 
of  the  conduct  of  the  Committee  on  Manufactures  they  have  much 
to  complain.  The  intolerant  spirit  of  a  majority  has  been  shamefully 
exhibited  towards  a  numerous  and  highly  respectable  body  of  citizens 
of  Philadelphia.  No  less  than  three  hundred  and  fifty  honest  and 
laborious  blacksmiths  and  manufacturers  of  hardware  represented 
their  grievances,  in  the  most  lucid,  explicit,  and  respectful  terms,  to 
Congress,  and  prayed,  in  their  petition,  for  a  repeal  of  the  duty  on 
iron ;  but  they  have  experienced  the  same  disrespectful  treatment  as 
3 


18 

was  exhibited  to  the  President.  The  enlightened  men,  of  every  age 
and  nation,  have  been  opposed  to  a  Restrictive  System.  Washington 
and  Jefferson  were  always  in  favor  of  low  duties,  and  the  words  of  that 
great  and  experienced  statesman,  General  Hamilton,  cannot  be  too 
often  quoted.  In  the  thirty-fifth  number  of  the  first  volume  of  the 
Fedeijalist,  he  expressly  says :  "  Exhorbitant  duties  on  imported  arti- 
cles serve  to  beget  a  general  spirit  of  smuggling,  which  is  always 
prejudicial  to  a  fair  trader,  and,  eventually,  to  the  revenue  itself: 
they  tend  to  render  other  classes  of  the  community  tributary,  in  an 
improper  degree,  to  the  manufacturing  classes,  to  whom  they  give 
a  premature  monopoly  of  the  markets :  they  sometimes  force  indus- 
try out  of  its  more  natural  channels,  into  others  in  which  it  flows  with 
less  advantage ;  and,  in  the  last  place,  they  oppress  the  merchant, 
who  is  often  obliged  to  pay  them  himself,  without  any  retribution 
from  the  consumer."  No  law  passed  by  an  American  Congress  since 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  has  ever  operated  so  unfairly  as 
this  same  Tariff  of  1828.  It  fosters  a  vile  spirit  of  monopoly,  by 
protecting  a  very  small  class  of  the  population,  to  the  serious  injury 
of  every  other :  It  has  been  made  an  instrument  of  intrigue  and 
faction,  to  elevate  demagouges  and  popularity-seekers  to  power  :  It 
taxes,  without  mercy,  all  the  most  necessary  and  useful  articles  of 
life  imported  from  foreign  countries,  and  thereby  increases  in  price 
every  article  manufactured  by  the  United  States.  No  efforts  have 
been  left  untried,  by  the  advocates  of  the  Tariff,  to  secure  their  favorite 
measure,  and  lull  the  people  into  an  ignominious  submission.  An 
eminent  writer  has  truly  said,  that  "  when  the  multitude  are  to  be 
dealt  with,  there  is  a  charm  in  sounds."  The  empty  title  of  the 
"  American  System,"  can  have  no  charm  but  for  the  vulgar  ear.  It 
has  been  introduced  to  beguile ;  it  is  plausible,  and  not  without  its 
effect ;  but  it  has  been  applied  to  a  bad  cause,  which  cannot  be  much 
longer  sustained,  unless  the  people  are  willing  to  relinquish  their 
freedom,  and  be  subservient  to  despotism,  and  a  nefarious  policy. 

.With  a  view  to  appease  and  divert  the  people,  the  Tariff  party 
have  circulated  a  rumor,  that  whenever  the  National  Debt  is  paid, 
high  duties  will  not  be  necessary.  This  is,  indeed,  a  paltry  subter- 
fuge, worthy  of  the  source  from  which  it  emanates.  Patience  is  al- 
ready exhausted,  and  no  longer  becomes  a  virtue  when  put  to  the 
test  of  such  artifice.  Every  man  of  common  sense  in  the  United 
States  must  know  that  a  sale  of  less  than  one-fourth  of  the  public 
lands  would  extinguish  the  debt.  It  was  never  contemplated  by 
those  patriotic  statesmen,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  Consti- 


19 

tution,  that  duties  should  be  levied  on  imported  goods  for  the  pur- 
pose of  protecting  domestic  manufactures.  The  sole  object  was  to 
raise  a  sufficient  revenue,  by  moderate  duties,  to  meet  the  exigencies 
of  the  State;  and,  I  sincerely  believe,  if  the  Congress  under  the  Wash- 
ington Administration  had  attempted  to  force  upon  the  people  such  a 
law  as  the  present  Tariff,  it  would  have  met  a  general  resistance  from 
Maine  to  Georgia.  There  was  a  time  when  men  were  lauded  to  the 
skies  for  resisting  a  Tea  Tax,  and  Stamp  Act ;  but  those  who  ought 
to  resist  "  the  bill  of  abomination,"  are  denounced  as  "  nullifiers," 
and  traitors,  and  such  like  opprobrious  names ;  but  he  deserves  to  be 
a  slave  who  suffers  himself  to  be  intimidated  by  ribaldry  and  empty 
threats,  when  engaged  in  vindicating  his  own  rights  and  those  of 
his  country.  Let  our  adversaries,  the  redoubtable  champions  of 
looms  and  spinning-jennies,  enforce  submission  within  the  walls  of 
their  manufactories,  but  the  hardy  mariners  and  yeomanry  of  Amer- 
ica, I  trust,  will  not  .much  longer  submit  to  be  their  dupes  and  pliant 
tools.  I  thank  God  that  our  cause  is  rapidly  increasing  in  strength. 
Maine  and  New  Hampshire — two  bright  stars  of  the  East — will 
never  be  obscured  by  the  Tariff  darkness  which  pervades  their  sister 
States.  Boston — that  polished  and  hospitable  city — contains  many 
brave  and  enlightened  patriots,  who  will  assist  to  restore  commercial 
prosperity,  and  will  unite  with  the  South  in  resisting  tyranny.  Let 
her  worthy  sons  who  so  nobly  advocate  the  cause  of  Free  Trade 
persevere,  and  they  will  triumph.  Let  them  show  the  spirit  now, 
that  actuated  their  ancestors  at  the  commencement  of  the  American 
Revolution,  and  all  will  be  right  in  spite  of  the  puerile  language, 
and  the  low  vulgarity  by  which  they  have  been  assailed  at  a  late 
election.  Their  cause  is  a  righteous  one,  and  must  prevail  against 
persecution  and  intolerance. 

The  advocates  of  the  "  American  System,"  in  order  to  reconcile 
the  people  to  their  selfish  doctrine,  have  declared  their  intention  of 
rendering  the  United  States  perfectly  independent  of  Europe.  But 
this,  however,  laudable  the  motives,  is  fully  consistent  with  all  their 
chimerical  projects.  It  is  very  certain  there  is  no  perfect  indepen- 
dence in  commercial  transactions ;  for  interest  will  ever  regulate 
men  as  well  as  nations,  in  their  intercourse,  from  which  mutual  ad- 
vantages arise.  France  and  England  draw  their  chief  supply  of 
cotton,  rice,  and  tobacco,  from  the  United  States,  and  give  us,  in  ex- 
change, the  articles  of  their  manufactures  we  most  need.  It  is,  there- 
fore, our  interest  to  cultivate  the  most  friendly  and  honorable  under- 
standing with  these,  and  all  other  nations,  by  whose  trade  we  may 


20 

benefit.  It  is  the  most  egregious  folly  that  a  Government  can  be 
guilty  of,  to  interfere  with  the  regular  and  natural  course  of  trade,  by 
an  unjust  Tariff,  which  must,  necessarily,  embarrass  and  distress. 
"  Honesty  is  surely  the  best  policy,"  and  all  measures  adopted  in 
opposition  to  this  maxim,  will  produce  fraud  and  distrust.  We  have 
professed  to  act  in  the  true  spirit  of  liberality  and  justice  to  all  na- 
tions ;  but  since  the  passage  of  the  Tariff  Law  of  1828,  the  charac- 
ter of  the  United  States  has  much  depreciated  in  the  general  estima- 
tion of  foreigners,  who  now  charge  the  people  of  America  with  be- 
ing sordid  and  selfish.  The  present  Tariff,  in  every  feature  of  it,  is 
characterized  by  the  most  flagrant  violation  of  justice  and  fair  deal- 
ing, particularly  with  regard  to  Holland  and  the  free  ports  of  Ger- 
many. 

I  arn,  dear  sir,  yours, 

HERMANN. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,  March  30,  1831, 

Dear  Sir :  You  must  not  infer  from  the  occasional  interruption 
to  our  correspondence,  that  I  am  disposed  to  relax  in  contributing 
my  humble  efforts  to  aid  the  cause  of  Free  Trade,  which  you  have 
so  ably  and  meritoriously  sustained  in  your  valuable  paper,  by  sound 
argument  and  well-established  facts.  The  champions  of  the  Ameri- 
can System  availed  themselves  of  our  lukewarmness  to  propagate 
their  doctrines  among  the  people  of  those  sections  of  the  United 
States  where  they  expected  to  make  converts,  either  by  flattering 
the  vanity  of  some,  gratifying  the  avarice  of  others,  or  exciting  a 
spirit  of  hostility  against  the  citizens  of  States  who  would  not  sub- 
mit to  be  the  willing  dupes  of  a  sophistry  which  can  easily  be  refuted 
and  exposed  in  its  proper  colors.  You  have  truly  observed,  Mr. 
Editor,  that  "  the  present  day  may  very  appropriately  be  called  a 
time  to  try  men's  souls,"  and  that  "  this  country  has  never  been  so 
near  a  political  vortex  as  at  this  moment."  Faction  and  artifice  have 
succeeded  in  imposing  on  the  freemen  of  this  nation  a  burden  of 
taxation,  in  the  form  of  a  Tariff  Law,  which,  to  the  eternal  disgrace 
of  our  Republic,  has  been  tacitly  borne,  without  making  an  efficient 
struggle  to  shake  it  off.  It  is  time  for  the  people  to  calculate  their 
strength,  judge  for  themselves,  and  be  no  longer  misguided  by  the 
ambitious  and  mercenary  views  of  designing  and  visionary  men. 


21 

No  stronger  proof  can  be  exhibited  against  the  abitrary  conduct  of 
the  majority  in  Congress,  than  the  rejection  or  cold  and  unfriendly 
reception  of  those  measures  which  militate  against  their  favorite 
Tariff.   Public  opinion  has  been  set  at  defiance,  freedom  of  debate 
has  been  abused,  coarse  and  taunting  words  have  been  utterred  in 
place  of  mild  and  gentlemanly  language,  and  discord  has  reigned, 
where,  in  the  happy  days  of  Washington,  peace  and  liberty  presided. 
Unjust  reproaches  have  been  heaped  on  the  liberal  party,  from  which 
not  even  the  Chief  Magistrate  has  been  spared.    His  endeavor  to  re- 
lieve the  poor  from  taxation,  has  been,  in  the  opinions  of  the  Tariff 
gentry,  a  most  henious  offence.     But  it  is  for  the  people  to  judge  of 
the  conduct  of  their  Representatives,  and  determine  how  far  they 
can  be  justified  for  having  refused  to  repeal  the  most  obnoxious 
parts  of  that  law,  usually  termed  "  the  bill  of  abominations."     The 
President  did  no  more  than  his  duty,  and  that  from  the  most  pure  and 
patriotic  motives.     He  deserves  well  of  his  country.   Any  panegyric 
from  my  pen,  on  his  character,  would  be  a  work  of  supererogation. 
A  grateful  country  has  rewarded  his  merits.     Envy  and  calumny 
cannot  taint  his  bright  fame.     Whilst  many   of   his   countrymen 
were  reposing  in  security,  he  was  enduring  all  the  hardships  of  a 
military  life,  and   fighting  the  battles  of  his  country  ;  and,  in  the 
evening  of  his  days,  he  is  still  found  devoted  to  her  service.  He  lives, 
like  the  mighty  oak  of  the  forest,  unscathed  by  time  or  tempest, 
and,  when  he  falls,  posterity  will  do  justice  to  his  memory. 

The  Committee  on  Manufactures  appear  to  have  been  extremely 
sensitive  whenever  the  Tariff  question  was  agitated.  They  were 
violently  opposed  to  a  modification  of  it,  sensible,  as  they  must  be, 
that  a  bad  work  will  not  bear  the  test  of  strict  examination,  lest  it 
crumble  into  nought.  They  candidly  acknowledge  that  "  any  change 
in  its  provisions  would  shake  confidence  in  the  plighted  faith  of  Go- 
vernment." Let  me  tell  these  gentlemen,  in  the  words  of  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson, "  error  alone  needs  the  support  of  Government."  Truth  can 
stand  by  itself.  So,  forsooth,  the  people  must  do  homage  to  this 
Committee,  and  continue  to  be  subject  to  the  oppressive  operations 
of  a  law  which  the  President  very  properly  recommended  should 
be  revised,  and  that  "each  interest  should  be  presented  singly  for 
deliberation."  But  they  were  determined  not  to  follow  his  advice, 
convinced  that  a  bad  cause  would  not  admit  of  free  investigation, 
without  undergoing  a  thorough  reform.  An  attempt  was  made  to 
raise  the  duty  on  salt,  that  most  necessary  article  of  life,  but,  fortu- 


nately,  failed.  Mr.  Haynes,  of  Georgia,  in  a  very  able  and  sensible 
speech,  advocated  the  reduction  of  the  duty  on  brown  sugar.  He 
concluded,  by  making  an  appeal  to  the  "  practical  good  sense  of  the 
country,"  and  expressed  his  wish  "  to  awaken  in  the  bosom  of  the 
laboring  man,  as  he  whistles  over  the  handles  of  his  plough,  the  in- 
quiry why  this  unequal  and  burdensome  tax  should  be  continued, 
mainly  for  the  benefit  of  the  lordly  capitalist." 

I  shall  now  once  more  notice  the  sufferings  of  that  most  respect- 
able and  numerous  body  of  men,  the  mechanics  of  the  County  and 
City  of  Philadelphia,  employed  in  various  branches  of  the  manufac- 
ture of  iron,  namely,  as  steam-engine  makers,  anchor  and  chain 
smiths,  machinists,  founders,  hardware  manufacturers,  edge-tool 
makers,  locksmiths,  whitesmiths,  and  blacksmiths."  Their  memo- 
rial, of  which  you  have  made  honorable  mention,  and  which  was 
published  in  your  paper,  should  be  read  by  all  who  abhor  oppression, 
and  advocate  Free  Trade.  It  is,  indeed,  a  most  lucid  and  sensible 
document,  and  comprehensive  exposition  of  their  grievances,  written 
in  the  most  modest  and  unassuming  tone,  dictated  by  a  proper  and 
becoming  spirit.  Such  a  petition  required  the  most  serious  and  re- 
spectful consideration,  and  to  be  followed  up  by  immediate  relief  to 
the  petitioners,  who  fairly  represented  their  own  sentiments  and 
those  of  their  brother  mechanics.  These  respectable  citizens,  it  is 
to  be  hoped,  will  not  be  trifled  with ;  they  will  no  longer  temporize, 
but  demand  as  a  right  what  has  been  denied  as  a  favor.  If  they  do 
not  assist  in  destroying  the  Tariff  monster,  it  will  destroy  them. 
Let  them  unite  their  strength  with  their  brother  mechanics  through- 
out the  United  States  ;  make  it  a  common  cause ;  appoint  Dele- 
gates, and  fix  on  an  eligible  situation  for  a  general  meeting  or  Con- 
vention. 

In  the  darkest  ages  of  bigotry  and  despotism,  men  have  sought  a 
redress  of  grievances  from  their  princes,  and  have  not  petitioned  in 
vain!  The  mighty  Autocrat  of  Russia  is  in  the  habit  of  receiving 
petitions  from  the  most  humble  of  his  subjects,  and  administers 
justice  to  the  suffering  Russian.  But,  in  this  great  Republic,  we  have 
before  us  a  most  extraordinary  instance  of  justice  being  refused  to 
an  immense  number  of  enlightened  mechanics,  from  whose  ingenui- 
ty and  industry  we  are  supplied  with  such  articles  as  are  wanted  in 
war — in  the  peaceable  pursuits  of  husbandry — and  in  every  depart- 
ment of  civilized  life.  The  majority  in  Congress  are  glad  to  profit 
by  the  honest  labor  and  inventive  genius  of  these  hard-working 


23 

republicans,  and  yet  refuse  to  repeal  the  duty  on  iron,  to  enable 
them  to  carry  on  .their  trades  to  advantage.  You  have  spoken  in 
merited  terms  of  approbation  of  the  mechanics  of  Philadelphia.  1 
sincerely  believe  there  does  not  exist  in  the  world  a  more  honest, 
intelligent,  and  obliging  body  of  men.  They  have  sufficient  spirit 
to  resent  injuries,  and  are  too  independent  to  be  sacrificed,  by  the 
Tariff  party,  to  an  abominable  system  of  monopoly. 

The  contracted  and  selfish  policy  of  foreign  nations  ought  not  to 
serve  as  an  example  for  the  people  of  the  United  States,  who  pro- 
fess to  practice  liberal  principles.  No  nation  can  be  considered  as 
strictly  free,  which  suffers  the  Governmeut  to  make  invidious  dis- 
tinctions, by  taxing  millions  of  people  to  lay  the  foundation  of  over- 
grown fortunes  for  a  few  manufacturers,  and  sugar  planters,  as  well 
as  proprietors  of  salt  works,  and  lordly  owners  of  iron  mines.  The 
advocates  of  the  American  System,  in  order  to  reconcile  their  fol- 
lowers to  their  doctrine,  have  frequently  introduced  Washington, 
Hamilton,  and  Jefferson — names  dear  to  liberty.  Those  illustrious 
men  were  always  opposed  to  a  high  Tariff;  and  Mr.  Jefferson  carried 
his  opposition  so  far  to  manufactories,  that  he  expressed  his  wish  to 
confine  them  to  Europe.  As  his  opinions  may  not  be  generally 
known,  I  will  here  quote  his  own  words.  "  Those  who  labor  in  the 
earth  are  the  chosen  people  of  God,  if  ever  he  had  a  chosen  people, 
whose  breasts  he  has  made  his  peculiar  deposit  for  substantial  and 
genuine  virtue."  Again  he  says,  "  While  we  have  land  to  labor, 
then,  let  us  never  wish  to  see  our  citizens  occupied  at  a  work-bench, 
or  twirling  a  distaff.  Carpenters,  masons,  smiths,  are  wanting  in 
husbandry  ;  for  the  general  operations  of  manufactures,  let  work- 
shops remain  in  Europe.  It  is  better  to  carry  materials  and  provi- 
sions to  workmen  there,  than  bring  them  to  the  provisions  and  ma- 
terials, and  with  them  their  manners  and  principles.  The  loss  by 
the  transportation  of  commodities  across  the  Atlantic,  will  be  made 
up  in  happiness  and  permanence  of  Government.  The  mobs  of 
great  cities  add  just  so  much  to  the  support  of  pure  Government,  as 
sores  do  to  the  strength  of  the  human  body.  It  is  the  manners  and 
spirit  of  a  people  which  preserve  a  Republic  in  vigor.  A  degene- 
racy in  these  is  a  canker  which  soon  eats  to  the  heart  of  its  laws 
and  Constitution.'5  I  have  been  thus  particular  in  giving  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson's real  opinions  on  a  subject  which  excites  such  general  inter- 
est. He  considered  a  manufacturing  life  as  prejudicial  both  to 
health  and  morals.  The  opinions  of  this  great  statesman  and  favor- 
ite of  the  people  entitle  them  to  respect.  I  shall  take  my  leave  of 


24 

you  for  the  present,  in  hopes  of  renewing  our  correspondence  at  no 
distant  period,  and  bringing  more  intimately  to  the  view  of  the  peo- 
ple the  evils  arising  from  the  Restrictive  System.  Wishing  you  all 
success, 

I  remain,  your  obedient  servant, 

HERMANN. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,  April  16,  1831. 

Dear  Sir :  Under  the  Administration  of  Washington,  it  was  the 
pride  and  boast  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  that  they  enjoy- 
ed a  Constitution  and  form  of  Government  based  on  the  solid  prin- 
ciples of  freedom  and  justice,  and  so  perfectly  adapted  to  the  securi- 
ty of  their  rights  as  to  afford  no  cause  of  apprehension  for  them- 
selves or  their  posterity.  The  pure  republican  doctrines  of  men 
who  had  emerged  triumphantly  from  the  perils  of  the  Revolution, 
were  strengthened  by  conscious  integrity  and  patriotism,  and  re- 
mained unadulterated  by  any  of  the  new-fangled  precepts  which  are 
to  teach  our  honest  farmers  how  much  more  profitable  it  is  for  them 
to  twirl  the  spinning  wheel  than  to  improve  their  land,  or  to  clear 
the  forest.  The  march  of  intellect,  and  the  rapid  progress  of  civili- 
zation, will  burst  asunder  the  fetters  which  tyranny  and  prejudice 
would  fain  rivet  on  freemen,  where  liberty  is  sacred,  and  where  the 
life  and  property  of  the  citizen  is  under  the  safeguard  of  equitable 
laws.  Let  us  rejoice  that  the  period  is  not  very  distant,  when  every 
man  in  the  United  States,  however  humble  his  station,  will  be  suffi- 
ciently enlightened  to  judge  when  his  rights  are  invaded,  and  to  form 
a  correct  opinion  of  all  those  legislative  acts  which  infringe  them. 
On  every  subject  involving  the  political  welfare  of  the  nation,  the 
people  have  a  right  to  expect  from  their  Representatives  a  deliberate 
and  dignified  discussion,  free  from  party  rancor  and  selfish  consider- 
ations, never  forgetting  that  the  public  should  be  preferred  to  private 
interest ;  and,  it  would  be  desirable,  if  all  legislators  were  admon- 
ished by  the  declaration,  that  "  liberty  is  the  the  power  which  be- 
longs to  a  man  of  doing  every  thing  which  does  not  hurt  the  rights 
of  another."  Its  principle  is  nature  :  its  rule  justice  :  its  protection 
the  law  ;  and  its  moral  limits  are  defined  by  that  maxim,  "  Do  not  to 
another  what  you  would  not  wish  done  to  yourself."  In  the  trans- 
action of  public  business  by  legislative  bodies,  it  would  be  a  great 


25 

consolation  if  their  deliberations  could  always  be  conducted  in  a  spirit 
of  amity  and  candor,  and  their  measures  adopted  by  the  rule  of 
justice  and  impartiality.  Public  characters  are  so  often  influenced 
by  ambition  to  obtain  power,  and  their  feelings  so  frequently  sported 
with  by  the  factious  and  insidious,  that  it  is  difficult  for  them,  on  all 
occasions,  to  exhibit  such  an  unblemished  line  of  conduct  as  to 
place  their  political  integrity  above  suspicion.  I  will  not,  however, 
dwell  any  longer  on  a  theme  that  might  lead  you  to  think  I  am 
attempting  a  treatise  on  Government  :  I  will  leave  that  to  wiser 
heads,  and  resume  the  subject  of  my  last  communication,  and,  in 
the  language  of  the  poet,  I  would  say, 

"  For  forms  of  Government  let  fools  contest, 

"  Whate'er  is  best  administered  is  best." 

As  to  what  relates  to  the  immediate  administration  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  by  our  worthy  Chief  Magistrate,  every 
reasonable  and  unprejudiced  man  will  candidly  acknowledge  that  he 
has  given  general  satisfaction  to  the  advocates  of  Free  Trade.  In 
all  which  regards  our  foreign  relations,  and  our  domestic  concerns, 
he  has  acted  with  fairness,  promptitude,  and  decision.  Has  he  not, 
by  his  memorable  veto,  put  a  check  to  a  wasteful  expenditure  of  the 
public  treasure  1  Has  not  the  judicious  appointment  of  Mr.  McLane 
been  followed  up  by  the  opening  of  the  British  West  India  ports 
to  the  commerce  of  the  United  States,  and  by  which  the  patriotic 
States  of  New  Hampshire  and  Maine  are  now  reaping  a  rich  har- 
vest ?  Are  not  the  Treaties  with  Denmark  and  Austria  proofs  of 
his  wisdom  1  Is  he  not  anxious  that  the  National  Debt  shall  be 
paid  off  with  all  possible  despatch  ?  Are  not  the  Indian  Affairs, 
under  his  prudent  and  judicious  management,  in  a  fair  train  of  ad- 
justment 1  And,  lastly,  has  he  not  shown  his  noble  independence, 
in  defiance  of  the  most  execrable  spirit  of  party,  by  recommending 
Congress  to  modify  the  iniquitous  Tariff,  with  a  view  of  relieving 
the  poor  from  the  burdens  of  heavy  duties  on  all  the  necessary  arti- 
cles of  life  1 

It  was  with  infinite  satisfaction  that  I  read  in  the  Banner,  of  the 
16th  of  March,  the  able  Report  on  the  Blacksmiths'  Petition,  sub- 
mitted to  the  Senate  by  that  highly  estimable  advocate  of  Free 
Trade,  General  Hayne.  It  contains  much  valuable  information,  and 
should  be  attentively  perused  by  every  citizen  of  this  country,  that 
he  may  see  how  shamefully  burdened  are  the  hard  working  and 
honest  blacksmiths,  by  the  enormous  duty  on  iron,  under  this  op- 
pressive restrictive  measure  j  and,  to  use  the  emphatic  language  of 
4 


the  Report,  a  "  system  artfully  contrived  to  make  the  rich  richer," 
while  it  humbles,  in  the  very  dust,  the  best  hopes  of  those  whose 
"  hard  hands  and  honest  hearts  entitle  them  to  the  grateful  con- 
sideration of  their  country."  You  have  paid  a  well-merited  compli- 
ment to  that  ingenious  and  intelligent  mechanic,  Mr.  Sarchet, 
whose  extensive  knowledge  of  his  particular  branch  of  business 
renders  him  a  valuable  acquisition  to  this  country. 

I  was  greatly  pleased  with  your  remarks  on  the  situation  of  Pitts- 
burg,  as  contained  in  your  paper  of  March  the  30th.  You  have 
ably  pointed  out  the  evil  effects  of  the  duty  on  iron,  as  applied  to 
the  manufactures  of  that  article,  and  I  am  truly  astonished  that  the 
people  of  Pittsburg  have  so  patiently  submitted  to  be  the  dupes  of 
the  "  American  System." 

The  champions  of  the  Tariff  have  exercised  a  direful  influence 
over  Pennsylvania.  That  beautiful  State,  so  rich  in  agricultural 
resources,  with  a  large  and  enterprizing  population,  needs  not  the 
aid  of  a  monopolizing  and  grinding  policy,  to  promote  her  prospe- 
rity. The  distressed  emigrant  Irish  deserve  a  better  fate  than'  to  be 
lured  into  the  unwholesome  atmosphere  of  a  manufactory,  in  a  State 
abounding  in  fertile  land,  and  watered  by  noble  streams.  The 
hardy  Germans  and  their  descendants  have  grown  rich  by  farming, 
and  know  too  well  the  value  of  the  soil,  to  give  up  the  plough  for 
the  loom.  Who  would  not  be  an  independent  yeoman,  in  prefer- 
ence to  a  manufacturer?  Sons  of  Hermann,  as  you  value  your 
health,  your  independence,  and  the  moral  welfare  of  yourselves  and 
children,  continue  to  be  the  worthy,  laborious,  and  honest  cultiva- 
tors of  the  earth. 

Some  of  the  friends  of  the  Prohibitory  System  have  vainly  held 
out  the  hope  of  making  converts  among  the  advocates  of  Free 
Trade.  I  would  sooner  expect  to  see  a  total  revolution  of  all  the 
laws  of  nature,  than  that  a  man  of  common  sense,  belonging  to  the 
Free  Trade  party,  should  be  a  proselyte  of  the  American  System. 
Despicable,  indeed,  must  be  that  man,  who  would  change  his  creed 
to  be  an  advocate  of  injustice  and  oppression.  Whenever  bigotry 
and  darkness  prevail  over  light  and  reason,  they  may  then  promise 
success  from  their  efforts.  The  advocates  of  the  Tariff  have  never 
been  able  to  advance  a  single  argument,  of  any  value,  in  support  of 
their  doctrine.  The  most  overstrained  reasoning,  and  preposterous 
calculations,  have  been  brought  forward.  Theory,  dogmatism,  and 
the  absurd  laws  of  other  countries,  have  been  all  reduced  to  chaos, 
and  from  which,  nothing  of  any  importance  can  be  selected,  to  con- 


27 

vince  us  that  the  present  Tariff  Law  is  favorable  to  the  interests  of 
America.     In  the  words  of  a  popular  writer,  I  would  exclaim, 

"  Shall  phrenzy  and  sophistry  hope  to  prevail, 

"  When  reason  opposes  her  weight, 

"  When  the  welfare  of  millions  is  hung  in  the  scale, 

"  And  the  balance  yet  trembles  with  fate  ?" 

•    - 

I  do  not  wish  to  impugn  the  motives  of  the  champions  of  the 
Tariff.  I  am  willing  to  allow  them  the  credit  of  supposing  they  are 
engaged  in  a  good  cause ;  but  I,  nevertheless,  am  of  opinion,  that 
they  labor  under  an  infatuation  which  it  behoves  the  people  tore- 
move,  by  all  means  in  their  power,  if  they  value  the  peace  of  the 
United  States,  and  wish  to  save  them  from  disunion.  In  order  to 
make  the  people  better  satisfied  with  the  existing  Tariff,  they  are 
repeatedly  told  that  the  Restrictive  System  is  not  adandoned  by  the 
Government  of  Great  Britain  and  the  Continental  Powers ;  as  if  we, 
a  free,  sovereign,  and  independent  people,  are  to  be  misguided  by 
imitating  the  policy  of  other  nations !  As  if  we,  who  possess  some 
hundred  millions  of  acres,  requiring  cultivation,  are  to  be  placed  in 
comparison  with  those  European  countries  so  often  reduced  to  ex- 
treme misery  by  war  and  famine !  The  friends  of  the  American 
System  tell  us  of  the  wealth  which  Great  Britain  has  derived  from 
heavy  duties  for  the  purpose  of  revenue,  and  encouraging  manufac- 
tures. Have  they  told  us,  at  the  same  time,  that  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  are  groaning  under  the  pressure  of  an  enormous  National 
Debt,  amounting  to  eight  hundred  millions  sterling ;  of  the  wretch- 
edness of  the  operatives  in  great  manufacturing  cities,  and  of  the 
frequent  disturbances  produced  by  low  wages,  and  the  high  price  of 
bread  ?  Have  they  told  us  of  the  innumerable  paupers,  inhabiting 
manufacturing  towns,  and  the  many  thousand  distressed  objects 
who  are  left  to  pine  in  want  and  misery,  and  who,  if  they  had  the 
means  of  paying  their  passage,  would  cheerfully  abandon  their  na- 
tive land,  and  quit  the  servile  drudgery  of  a  manufactory,  to  seek 
an  asylum  in  America,  and  benefit  themselves,  and  the  country,  by 
their  labor  in  cultivating  the  earth  1  Whenever  the  honest  and  in- 
telligent working-men  will  take  time  to  reason  and  reflect  properly 
on  the  fallacy  of  what  is  erroneously  termed  the  "  American  System," 
they  will  find,  that,  where  one  man  has  been  made  wealthy  by  it,  at 
least  one  thousand  will  be  impoverished.  They  will  learn  that  high 
duties  have  a  tendency  to  injure  the  laboring  poor  more  than  any 
other  class  of  people,  and,  by  loosening  the  moral  obligations  to 
support  a  law  that  distresses  them,  they  will  soon  begin  to  despise  it 


28 

as  partial,  unjust,  and  oppressive*  Never  have  a  people  been  more 
egregiously  duped  by  flattering  promises,  than  the  grain  and  stock 
farmers.  The  wool-growers  were  to  make  their  fortunes,  and  were 
induced,  to  their  sorrow,  to  purchase  large  flocks  of  sheep.  Ask 
*  all  the  ship-owners,  and  ship-wrights,  what  the  "  accursed  "  Tariff 
has  done  for  them — ask  nearly  a  hundred  thousand  workers  in 
iron,  and  as  many  honest  tars,  how  they  have  fared  by  the  Tariff — 
and  they  will  reply,  that,  while  it  makes  them  poor,  it  serves  to  pam- 
per a  host  of  revenue  officers,  clerks,  and  subordinate  agents,  and 
to  enrich  monopolizers  and  smugglers.  High  duties  often  defeat 
the  very  end  they  are  intended  to  answer.  As  an  instance  of  this, 
I  will  here  beg  leave  to  mention,  from  the  most  authentic  source, 
that,  in  the  year  1804,  the  English  Government  raised  the  duty  on 
sugar  twenty  per  cent. ;  previous  to  this,  the  revenue  from  the  duty 
on  that  article  amounted  to  £2,778,000 — but  they  deservedly  ex- 
perienced a  deficit  of  c£241,QpO.  The  increased  duty  of  twenty 
per  cent,  did  not  yield  more  than  ,£2,537,000,  instead  of  the  sum 
of  ,£3,330,000,  as  was  expected. 

May  your  efforts  to  promote  the  cause  of  "  Free  Trade,"  be 
crowned  with  success,  and  the  "  Banner  of  the  Constitution"  meet 
with  that  extensive  encouragement  it  so  justly  merits,  is  the  sincere 
wish  of 

Your  obedient  servant, 

HERMANN, 


CHARLESTON,  April  30M,  1831. 

Dear  Sir :  I  lately  read,  with  much  satisfaction,  some  very  sensi- 
ble remarks,  in  the  "  Banner,"  of  April  the  6th,  applicable  to  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania.  You  have  truly  remarked  that  "  she  has  no 
direct  interest  in  the  Tariff  policy  at  all  equal  to  the  injury  sustained 
from  the  operation  of  it ;"  and  your  reasons  in  support  of  this  asser- 
tion, I  think,  are  sufficiently  convincing  to  every  unprejudiced  mind. 
You  have  also  alluded  to  the  indefatigable  exertions  made  use  of  to 
propagate  the  doctrines  of  Restriction,  and  have  observed,  that 
pamphlet  after  pamphlet  was  written  and  literally  forced  upon  the  peo- 
ple, against  their  wishes.  I  have  travelled  much  through  that  beau- 
tiful and  highly  interesting  State,  which  Providence  has  blessed 
with  so  many  valuable  resources  as  to  render  her  perfectly  indepen- 


29 

dent  of  any  aid  she  can  derive  from  the  "  American  System,"  and 
I  can  vouch  for  the  truth  of  your  observation  respecting  the  pains 
taken  to  disseminate  Tariff  principles — which,  like  rank  weeds, 
may  take  root  for  a  time,  and  pollute  the  soil,  but  must  fall  under  the 
scythe  of  the  husbandman,  to  make  room   for  the  cultivation  of  a 
crop  congenial  to  the  land,  and  adapted  to  the  sustenance  of  man. 
The  delusion  cannot  last ;  it  will  surely  be  destroyed  by  the  good 
sense  of  the  people :  the  prevailing  darkness  must  be  of  short  dura- 
tion, and  will,  like  a  mist,  be  penetrated  by  the  dazzling  light  of  the 
sun.     Your  yeomanry  are  really  too  enlightened  to   be  chained  to 
the  car  of  tyranny,  and  submit  to  have  their  interests  governed  by 
the  "  Bill  of  Abominations."     It  is  a  lamentable   fact,  that,  in  all 
ages,  and  under  every  form  of  Government,  however  liberal,  there 
have  existed  a  certain  set  of  closet-politicians,  or  political  theorists, 
who  have  overrated  their  talents,  and  conceited  themselves  capable 
of  legislating  for  mankind,  without  possessing  that  useful  practical 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  of  the  people  among  whom  they 
live,  and  of  the  resources  of  the  country  they  inhabit,  to  enable  them 
to  form  a  correct  idea  of  the  peculiar  habits  and  condition  of  their 
fellow-citizens.     Whether  moved  by  a  spirit  of  arrogance,  or  labor- 
ing under  infatuation,  they  bid  defiance  to  public  opinion,  and  in- 
trude doctrines  on  the  community  which  are  not  comprehended  by 
the  poorer  classes  ;  but,  by  dint  of  cabal  and  artifice,  aided  by  for- 
tuitous circumstances,  they  are  ushered  forth  under  legislative  sanc- 
tion, with  the  most  plausible  pretexts,  to  serve  party  purposes,  and 
to  strip  the  poor  man  of  a  portion  of  his  hard  earnings.     Such  has 
been  the  operation  of  the  Tariff  Law  of  1828 — the  object  of  which 
is  to  protect  manufactures,  and  establish  a  privileged  order  of  men, 
at  the  expense  of  the  enterprizing  and  laborious.     How  long  this 
order  of  things  will  prevail,  is  not  for  me  to  determine.     Power  and 
riches  are  rapidly  passing  from  the  many  to  the  few :  the  lordly  pro- 
prietors of  iron  and  salt  works,  the  wealthy  sugar  planters,  and  the 
avaricious  woollen  and  cotton  manufacturers,  form  a  monopoly  and 
monied  autocracy.     God  grant  that  the   friends  of  Freedom  and 
Free  Trade  may  soon  awake  from  their  apathy,  and  destroy  the  spell 
which  has  bound  our  country  to  a  nefarious  system !     This  can  on- 
ly be  effected  by  a  solemn  appeal  to  the  feelings  and  the  good  sense 
of  the  people,  backed  by  a  determination  to  resist  injustice ;  and, 
when  all  reasonable  remonstrances  are  unheeded  and  contemned, 
there  is  physical  power  enough  in  the  United  States  to  take  as  a  right 
what  is  refused  as  a  favor.     It  is  infinitely  more  noble  to  resist  than 


30 

tamely  to  submit  to  oppression.  The  few  men  in  Congress,  of  dis- 
tinguished talents,  who  advocate  the  Prohibitive  System,  seldom  ven- 
ture to  meet  their  adversaries  in  fair  and  open  argument,  lest,  in  the 
freedom  of  debate,  the  truth  might  expose  and  defeat  their  crafty 
policy.  The  zeal  of  the  friends  of  the  Protecting  System  is  totally 
misapplied,  and  cannot  be  too  much  condemned  by  a  discerning  pub- 
lic. A  man  who  goes  pledged,  to  the  Seat  of  Government,  to  vote 
for  a  favorite  measure,  cannot  be  considered  as  a  free  agent.  If  he 
is  sent  by  the  manufacturing  interest  solely,  he  becomes  the  instru- 
ment of  their  creating — a  puppet,  to  be  put  in  motion  at  their  will 
and  pleasure — and,  to  adopt  the  playful  and  figurative  words  of  a 
grave  statesman,  "a  mere  bob  to  the  tail  of  the  kite  of  the  manu- 
facturers." There  never  was  a  time,  since  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, when  so  little  necessity  existed,  as  at  this  present  moment, 
for  heavy  taxation,  direct  or  indirect.  In  less  than  four  years,  the 
National  Debt,  amounting  to  thirty-nine  millions  of  dollars,  will  be 
extinguished.  Moderate  duties  on  all  the  luxuries  of  life,  or  on  such 
articles  as  are  in  common  use  only  among  the  rich,  would  furnish  an 
ample  revenue.  If  direct  taxes  could  be  deemed  more  advisable, 
then  custom-houses  might  be  dispensed  with,  and  our  free  ports  would 
be  crowded  with  richly-laden  vessels  from  all  parts  of  the  world  ; 
American  produce  would  rise  in  value,  and  American  merchants 
would  regain  that  high  standing  in  society  they  are  so  deservedly  en- 
titled to,  from  their  intelligence  and  enterprize.  This,  however, 
may  not  suit  many  of  the  ardent  admirers  of  the  American  System, 
who  have  embarked  largely  in  the  purchase  of  manufacturing  stock, 
and  who  expect  to  reap  a  golden  harvest  by  aid  of  the  Tariff. 
Hence,  then,  arises  so  great  a  display  of  eloquence  and  patriotic 
professions,  at  town-meetings,  among  some  who  wish  to  persuade  the 
people  that  their  motives  are  disinterested,  when,  in  fact,  they  are 
prompted  by  avarice.  Will  the  poor  man  submit  to  kiss  the  rod  of 
his  oppressors,  and  help  to  pamper  their  appetite  for  filthy  lucre  ? — 
or  must  he  learn  to  curtail  his  wants,  in  order  to  lessen  the  burden 
of  indirect  taxes  1  If  so,  he  must  make  one  woollen  cq$t  serve  him, 
instead  of  two,  during  an  inclement  winter,  and  consume  less  sugar 
and  salt  in  his  family,  in  consideration  of  the  high  duty  on  those  ar- 
ticles. 

One  of  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  friends  of  the  American  Sys- 
tem, for  the  passage  of  the  Tariff  Bill,  was  the  necessity  of  retaliat- 
ing on  the  British  Government  for  imposing  heavy  duties  on  our  rice, 
wheat,  and  other  grain.  Many  worthy  farmers  have  been  gulled  bv 


31 

this  pretext;  but  every  man  of  common  sense  must,  by  this  time, be 
convinced  that  the  ostensible  cause  of  passing  the  law  was  to  protect 
manufactures,  and  to  encourage  internal  improvements,  by  prodigal- 
ly expending  large  sums  of  the  public  money,  instead  of  paying  off 
the  National  Debt  with  it.  What  honest  man,  then,  can  blame 
General  Jackson  for  checking  the  extravagance  of  the  Tariff  party, 
by  his  veto  ?  There  cannot  be  a  stronger  proof  of  the  injustice  of 
the  Tariff  Law,  than  the  oppressive  manner  in  which  it  operates 
against  the  trade  of  the  Dutch,  and  many  of  the  ports  of  Germany, 
We  derive  immense  advantages  from  our  commercial  intercourse 
with  Amsterdam,  Antwerp,  Bremen,  Hamburg,  Lubec,  and  other 
cities,  where  our  produce  is  either  admitted  free  of  duty,  or  subject 
to  the  paltry  tax  of  one  per  centum ;  and,  in  return  for  their  liberal- 
ity, we  tax  their  goods  without  mercy.  Germans !  and  descendants 
of  Germans !  carj  you  sanction  this  act  of  oppression  1  Will  you 
submit  to  be  the  slaves  of  a  vile  monopoly  ?  Can  you  consent  to  be 
excluded  from  all  intercourse  with  Germany,  the  beautiful  country  of 
your  nativity,  and  the  land  of  your  ancestors  ?  Will  you  suffer  a  few 
manufacturers  and  their  political  friends,  (by  whose  agency  they  have 
been  hoisted  into  office,)  to  debar  you  of  free  trade,  and  confine  you 
to  a  home-market,  and  not  permit  you  to  benefit  by  a  maritime  com- 
merce, for  the  disposal  of  your  surplus  produce  ?  Bow  not  to  the 
Tariff  yoke !  Do  not  disgrace  the  land  of  Hermann,  or  that  of 
Washington  !  Live  as  you  ever  have  done,  friends  of  freedom  and 
liberal  principles ! — enemies  to  tyranny  and  oppressive  taxation  ! 

What  good  has  the  Tariff  done  ?  is  a  question  which  issues  from 
the  mouths  of  many — What  States  have  been  enriched  by  it  1  None  \ 
but  all  have  more  or  less  suffered,  particularly  the  cotton-growing 
States.  Of  the  New  England  States,  Maine  and  New  Hampshire 
have  openly  and  nobly  declared  their  hostility  to  the  Tariff:  they 
have  set  a  magnanimous  example  to  their  sister  States.  Kentucky 
has  been  cajoled  into  a  support  of  the  Restrictive  System,  by  the 
prospect  held  out  to  her  of  growing  rich  by  the  manufacturing  of  cot- 
ton-bagging and  cordage,  and  the  culture  of  hemp.  The  people  of 
that  State  have  too  much  good  sense  to  be  made  subservient  to  the 
views  of  a  party,  and  they  now  begin  to  perceive  that  their  true  in- 
terest consists  in  preserving  a  friendly  intercourse  with  the  Southern 
States,  which  afford  the  best  markets  for  their  stock.  Ohio — her 
near  neighbor — contains  an  enterprizing  and  enlightened  population, 
whose  chief  object,  for  many  years,  will  be  to  direct  their  attention 
to  agriculture,  and  profit  by  the  fertility  of  the  soil  which  a  bountiful 


32 

Providence  has  bestowed.  Ohio  is  not  yet  prepared  to  manufacture 
extensively,  nor  is  it  to  her  interest :  the  facility  of  communicating, 
by  the  Lakes,  with  Canada  and  New  York,  enables  her  to  obtain  an 
ample  supply  of  every  kind  of  manufactures  at  a  cheap  rate ;  and 
high  duties  will  always  be  inimical  to  her  success  in  manufacturing, 
as  they  offer  strong  inducements  to  smuggle.  Tempt  but  the  avarice 
of  the  smuggler,  and  he  will  bid  defiance  to  all  law ;  neither  the  fear 
of  the  dungeon,  or  chains,  will  daunt  his  desperate  courage,  or  re- 
strain his  adventurous  spirit. 

It  is  with  great  satisfaction  I  have  heard  of  your  determination  to 
transfer  the  Banner  to  your  native  city ;  and  I  sincerely  hope  that 
you  will  be  liberally  supported  by  an  enlightened  public,  and  particu- 
larly by  the  mechanics — a  great  portion  of  whom,  consisting  of  black- 
smiths and  shipwrights,  are  suffering  from  the  evil  effects  of  the  Tariff. 
I  remain  yours, 

HERMANN; 


PHILADELPHIA,  June  l£th,  1831. 

Dear  Sir :  In  my  last  communication  to  you,  I  ventured  to  express 
an  opinion  that  neither  Kentucky  nor  Ohio  derived  the  least  benefit 
from  the  present  Tariff,  and  I  think  I  will  be  supported  by  every  im- 
partial and  honest  politician  in  asserting  that  these  States  have  no 
interest  whatever  in  adhering  to  the  present  odious  "  American  Sys- 
tem," and  in  submitting  to  be  taxed  heavily  on  the  most  necessary 
articles  of  lifq.  Men  of  common  sense  need  not  be  told  that,  to  es- 
tablish manufactories  on  a  sure  and  permanent  foundation,  a  consi- 
derable capital  and  surplus  population  are  required,  which  these 
States  do  not  fully  possess  ;  admitting,  however,  the  existence  of  both, 
what  necessity  can  justify  the  Federal  Government  in  imposing  heavy 
duties  on  foreign  goods,  solely  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  manu- 
facturers, and  enabling  them  to  prosper  at  the  expense  of  commerce 
and  agriculture?  This  system  of  fraud,  oppression,  and  injustice, 
would  disgrace  the  most  despotic  countries  of  the  world,  and  has 
been  forced  on  the  people  of  this  Republic  by  intrigue  and  avarice. 
Unfortunately,  the  poor  are  deluded  and  imposed  upon  by  a  specious 
name,  and  have  bestowed  their  aid  in  directing  the  withering  hand 
of  tyranny  against  their  own  rights  and  liberties.  The  advocates 
and  champions  of  the  Tariff,  profiting  by  the  apathy  of  their  adver- 


33 

saries — the  friends  of  Free  Trade — succeeded  in  securing  the  confi- 
dence of  persons  unaccustomed  to  reason  on  the  justice  and  injus- 
tice of  the  laws,  or  on  the  doubtful  points  of  the  constitutionality  of 
them.  To  the  independent  yeomen,  and  the  honest  and  industrious 
laborers,  we  must  address  ourselves,  in  the  language  of  truth  and  sin- 
cerity, and  tell  them,  in  plain  terms,  that  the  existing  Tariff  Law  was 
enacted,  in  1828,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  spirit  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  for  the  express  purpose  of  establishing  a  monopoly,  by  pro- 
tecting domestic  manufactures,  to  effect  which  the  poor  must  neces- 
sarily suffer,  by  paying  more  than  the  real  value  of  almost  every  ar- 
ticle they  consume,  to  enrich  the  sugar  planters,  and  the  proprietors 
of  iron  mines,  and  salt  works,  as  well  as  the  woollen  and  cotton  manu- 
facturers. The  influence  of  men  of  great  wealth  in  the  Eastern  and 
Middle  States,  is  made  use  of  to  keep  up  this  system  of  taxation, 
and,  having  embarked  large  sums  of  money  in  manufacturing  stock, 
their  sole  efforts  are  directed  to  their  own  advancement,  and  they 
care  not  for  the  agriculturists  and  the  poor.  Even  our  merchants, 
unable  to  stem  the  tide  of  prejudice  and  corruption,  are  fast  degener- 
ating into  apathy.  Where  are  the  men  to  be  found  inheriting  the 
principles  of  their  Revolutionary  ancestors  ?  Where  is  the  spirit 
that  resisted  the  Stamp  Act,  and  a  paltry  tax  on  tea  1  Can  it  be  pos- 
sible that  the  character  of  this  land  of  liberty  is  so  changed,  and  the 
people  so  degraded,  as  to  submit  to  be  the  dupes  of  a  system  that,  if 
persevered  in,  will  eventually  annihilate  our  foreign  commerce,  and 
render  the  United  States  contemptible  both  at  home  and  abroad  ? 
Can  it  be  possible  that  the  patriots  of  Boston,  and  the  other  great 
cities,  have  abandoned  the  cause  of  Free  Trade,  and  are  unwilling 
to  make  an  effort  to  defend  their  rights,  and  wipe  from  the  face  of 
the  country  the  foul  stain  which  has  been  stamped  upon  it  by  apostates 
to  liberty  ?  Will  they  barter  the  Republic  for  filthy  lucre  ?  Will 
they  assist  in  oppressing  the  poor  mariner  and  mechanic,  and  substi- 
tute looms  and  spinning-jennies  for  ships  and  ploughs  ?  Will  they 
arrest  the  progress  of  the  unfortunate  emigrant  who  has  sought  an 
asylum  among  us,  and  doom  him  to  toil  within  the  walls  of  a  manu- 
factory, inste  "  "idirig  his  steps  to  the  forests  of  the  South  or  the 
West,  that  ]  .^  oe  an  independent  cultivator  of  the  soil,  an  honest 
freeholder,  and  lay  up  for  his  children  a  rich  inheritance  ?  Will 
they  join  in  the  hue  and  cry  against  him  because  he  is  a  foreigner  I 
Justice  and  humanity  forbid  it !  It  is  really  most  ludicrous  to  notice 
the  various  opprobrious  epithets  which  have  been  applied  to  the  friends 
of  Free  Trade  and  liberal  principles !  They  are  stigmatized  as  for- 


34 

eigners  and  nullifiers.  The  highly  respectable  and  industrious  me- 
.chanics  who  twice  petitioned  Congress,  and  petitioned  in  vain,  for  a 
repeal  of  the  duty  on  iron,  have  been  upbraided,  for  their  truly  repub- 
lican and  honorable  conduct,  with  being  foreigners ;  but  they  have 
gained  a  glorious  triumph  over  their  opponents,  for  having  vindicated 
the  cause  of  Free  Trade  against  oppression  and  injustice.  The  ad- 
vocates of  the  Prohibitive  System,  when  at  a  loss  for  sound  reason- 
ing to  support  their  cause,  have  recourse  to  slander  and  low  abuse. 
Jt  is  of  no  consequence  to  the  world  whether  a  man  be  born  on  the 
ocean  or  on  the  land,  if  he  is  a  useful  and  virtuous  member  of  the 
community.  What  more  have  we  a  right  to  expect  ?  Who  nobly 
devoted  their  lives  and  fortunes  to  aid  in  securing  the  independence 
of  the  United  States,  but  foreigners,  among  whom  are  the  illustrious 
names  of  La  Fayette,  Montgomery,  St.  Clair,  Kosciusko,  Steuben, 
De  Kalb,  Pulaski,  and  a  host  of  others !  Who  are  engaged  in  our 
manufactories  and  mines,  and  labor  in  making  our  canals,  railroads, 
and  other  public  works  ?  Foreigners  !  Who  were  our  ancestors  1 
Foreigners  !  There  is  really  something  too  illiberal  and  contracted, 
to  be  jealous  of  the  merits  of  men,  or  refuse  to  acknowledge  them, 
because  they  are  foreigners.  Genius  is  the  property  of  mankind, 
and  should  be  cherished  by  every  civilized  nation.  The  virtues  of 
men  are  not  to  be  fixed  by  geographical  limits.  He  who  labors  to 
improve  his  adopted  country,  who  devotes  to  her  interests  his  time 
and  talents,  merits  a  civic  crown,  and  ranks  with  the  most  favored  of 
her  native  sons.  The  spirit  of  philanthropy  shields  from  oppression 
the  virtuous  of  all  countries,  without  regard  to  local  distinctions  and 
sectional  feelings.  The  term  nullifier  has  been  so  hacknied,  and  so 
misapplied,  as  to  be  almost  disregarded,  and  treated  with  derision. 
It  is  promiscuously  applied,  and  little  understood.  The  man  who 
ventures  to  expose  the  folly  and  injustice  of  the  "  American  System," 
is  called  a  nullifier  !  If  he  is  the  advocate  of  Free  Trade,  a  friend 
to  the  poor,  and  champion  of  their  rights  and  liberties,  he  is  still-  a 
nullifier  !  Such  is  the  persecuting  spirit  of  the  violent  supporters  of 
the  "  bill  of  abominations,"  that  a  very  few  escape  the  tongue  of 
malevolence.  One  among  the  few  has  indeed  been  peculiarly  fortu- 
nate and  favored.  I  allude  to  a  highly  amiable  citizen  of  South  Car- 
olina, most  justly  distinguished  for  his  integrity  and  talents.  He  has 
held  the  following  language  : 

"  That,  as  Congress  has  imposed  the  Tariff,  then  is  our  indepen- 
dence but  a  phantom  ! — then  have  the  patriots  of  the  Revolution  toil- 
ed and  bled  in  vain  ! — then  would  it  be  better  for  us  to  return  to  our 


35 

former  colonial  vassalage,  when,  if  unjustly  taxed,  the  burden  was 
imposed  without  discrimination  upon  all  our  countrymen — when,  if 
oppressed,  our  oppressors  were  not  our  representatives — when,  if  en- 
slaved, we  were  not  guilty  of  forging  the  chains  ourselves  with  which 
our  liberty  was  manacled." 

Had  these  truths  been  expressed  by  either  of  the  two  highly  dis- 
tinguished patriots,  Governor  Hamilton  or  General  Hayne,  they 
would  have  been  villified  with  the  grossest  abuse,  although  nothing 
but  perfect  contempt  could  be  shown  for  the  foul  and  slanderous 
tongues  from  which  it  might  emanate.  It  is  with  pride  and  pleasure 
I  read,  in  the  last  number  of  the  Banner,  the  able  speech  of  the  Hon. 
George  McDuffie,  delivered  at  a  festival  lately  given  to  him  by  a  nu- 
merous and  respectable  party  of  gentlemen  in  Charleston.  It  is  a 
lucid  and  impartial  exposition  of  the  injurious  effects  of  the  Tariff, 
and  particularly  of  its  operation  on  the  interests  of  the  South.  This 
eloquent  address  is  replete  with  sound  sense  ;  it  is  the  language  of  a 
true  patriot,  and  should  be  read  by  every  man  in  America.  How 
long  will  the  sordid  spirit  of  gain  continue  to  pervade  this  country, 
and  blast  the  fair  prospects  of  the  people — subdue  the  fine  feelings 
of  the  heart — and  render  a  despotic  and  aspiring  majority  deaf  to  the 
complaints  of  their  fellow-citizens  !  In  the  name  of  justice,  reason, 
and  common  sense,  I  call  on  every  honest  and  disinterested  man, 
whose  mind  is  uncorrupted,  and  whose  talents  are  not  perverted,  to 
unite  in  destroying  the  Tariff  monster,  that  he  may  no  longer  fatten 
on  the  vitals  of  the  poor.  To  the  good  sense  and  feelings  of  the 
supporters  of  the  Restrictive  System,  I  appeal.  Let  them  retract 
their  errors,  and  generously  make  atonement  by  promoting  the  pros- 
perity of  the  United  States.  If  they  value  the  peace  of  the  Union — 
if  they  regard  the  ties  of  nature — if  they  have  any  wish  to  preserve 
the  sanctity  of  the  Constitution — let  them  pause  and  reflect,  and 
abandon  a  measure  which  is  productive  of  nothing  but  discord.  I 
solemnly  invoke  the  spirit  of  a  Washington,  a  Hancock,  and  a  Pa- 
trick Henry,  to  save  this  Republic  from  being  sacrificed  to  despotism 
and  anarchy  !  I  solemnly  warn  the  friends  of  the  Tariff  of  the  fatal 
consequences  which  must  ensue,  if  they  obstinately  persist  in  their 
hostility  to  the  cause  of  Free  Trade.  Let  them  take  wisdom  in  their 
councils,  and  listen  to  the  advice  of  those  whose  only  wish  can  be  to 
promote  the  general  happiness  of  the  people. 

I  am  yours, 

HERMANN. 


36 


PHILADELPHIA,  June  25*7*,  1831. 

Dear  Sir :  Not  many  days  ago  I  was  prompted  by  curiosity  to 
visit  the  elegant  store  of  Mr.  Van  Harlingen,  in  Chesnut  Street, 
where  I  had  an  opportunity  of  viewing  his  assortment  of  goods  ;  but, 
what  particularly  attracted  my  attention,  were  the  articles  of  Ger- 
man manufacture,  consisting  chiefly  of  beautiful  damask  napkins, 
muslins  handsomely  embroidered,  and  superfine  Saxon  cloths  of 
various  colors,  and  superbly  wrought.  These  last  are  designed 
chiefly  for  table,  chair,  and  sofa  covers,  and  are,  perhaps,  unsur- 
passed by  any  goods  of  a  similar  description  in  the  world.  On 
quitting  this  fashionable  and  much-frequented  store,  I  was  naturally 
induced  to  reflect  on  the  impolicy  and  injustice  of  the  Tariff,  which 
imposes  high  duties  on  these,  as  well  as  many  other  more  useful 
articles,  manufactured  in  Germany  and  Holland.  I  was  led,  by  a 
former  communication,  to  make  a  few  cursory  remarks  on  the  com- 
merce of  those  countries,  and  of  the  importance  of  it  to  the  United 
States.  The  imports  consisted  chiefly  of  woollens,  linens,  and 
steel  of  the  most  superior  quality,  besides  oznaburgs,  cotton-bag- 
ging, Rhenish  wine,  gin,  &>c.  &c.,  for  which  they  took  in  exchange 
rice,  cotton,  tobacco,  and  other  supplies  of  American  produce. 
The  merchandise  from  the  United  States  has  always  been  admitted 
into  the  German  and  Dutch  ports  on  the  most  liberal  terms,  and  I 
think  I  am  correct  in  saying,  never  subject  to  a  duty  of  more  than 
one  per  centum  ad  valorem.  Every  facility  to  our  trade  has  been 
afforded — every  accommodation  to  our  merchants  has  been  granted 
— and  many  of  our  citizens,  who  have  visited  both  Germany  and 
Holland,  have  experienced  friendship  and  hospitality  ;  in  return  for 
which,  we  have  nearly  destroyed  all  intercourse  with  the  worthy 
people  of  those  countries,  by  the  operation  of  the  most  unjust  and 
oppressive  law  which  ever  disgraced  a  free  nation.  Sir,  it  is  high 
time  that  the  honest  Germans  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  other  States 
of  the  Union  should  know  the  truth.  Every  article  of  German  and 
Butch  manufacture,  under  the  present  Tariff,  is  so  shamefully  and 
exorbitantly  taxed,  as  to  amount  almost  to  prohibition.  If  we  do 
not  allow  the  Germans  to  trade  with  us  on  terms  of  reciprocity, 
they  will  cease  to  have  any  commercial  intercourse  with  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  and  will  consider  them  sordid  and  selfish, 
friends  to  despotism,and  enemies  of  Free  Trade  and  liberal  principles. 


,37 

The  Southern  States  were  beginning  to  i'eel  the  great  benefit  of 
the  trade  from  the  ports  of  Hamburg,  Bremen,  Amsterdam,  Rotter- 
dam, and  Antwerp,  when  it  was  interrupted  by  the  embargo,  the 
war,  and,  the  greatest  curse  of  all,  the  Tariff.  The  port  of 
Charleston  was  once  enriched  by  the  German  trade  ;  a  great  pro- 
portion of  the  crop  of  rice  of  South  Carolina  went  to  Germany, 
which  will  afford  a  great  market  for  our  cotton  when, the  Tariff  is 
repealed.  This  vile  and  odious  policy,  so  erroneously  termed  the 
"  American  System,"  will  exclude  the  hardy  German  emigrants 
from  our  soil,  by  destroying  the  trade  and  the  most  direct  means  of 
conveyance.  We  want  their  integrity  and  industry,  which,  to  the 
United  States,  are  more  valuable  than  gold.  Let  them  come  as 
peaceable  cultivators  of  the  earth — should  they  come  in  thousands 
for  many  years  hence,  they  would  be  but  thinly  scattered  over  a 
wilderness  that  yet  remains  to  be  cultivated ;  and,  if  improved  by 
the  hand  of  industry,  is  capable  of  sustaining  more  than  one  hun- 
dred millions  of  people.  I  would  ask  if  this  is  not  preferable  to 
forcing  prematurely  manufactories  on  the  nation.  We  must  not 
lose  the  trade  of  Germany,  and  Holland,  and  of  nearly  all  Europe, 
and  be  satisfied  to  toil  for  manufacturers  at  home,  and  submit  to  be 
taxed  for  their  benefit,  and  the  wealthy  proprietors  of  sugar  planta- 
tions, iron  mines,  and  salt  works. 

Let  us  call  on  the  Germans  of  Pennsylvania,  and  their  descen- 
dants, to  unite  their  strength  and  influence  to  destroy  a  corrupt 
system,  which,  like  a  canker-worm,  is  feeding  on  the  fairest  fruits 
of  the  land,  and  blasting  the  best  prospects  of  the  husbandman. 
Let  the  majority  of  Congress,  if  they  wish  to  consult  the  general 
good,  turn  their  attention  to  objects  more  worthy  of  their  considera- 
tion, than  depriving  the  honest  blacksmith  of  a  part  of  his  hard 
earnings,  by  taxing  heavily  the  iron  of  foreign  countries,  and  oblig- 
ing him  to  pay  a  high  price  for  such  as  he  can  procure  from  the 
mines  of  the  United  States,  much  of  which  is  of  an  inferior  quality, 
and  badly  adapted  to  particular  purposes  to  which  it  is  applied. 
Added  to  this  grievance,  the  poor  man  is  made  to  pay  more  than 
the  real  value  of  his  sugar,  his  salt,  his  cloth,  and  many  of  the 
necessaries  of  life. 

If  the  people  are  true  to  their  own  interests,  they  should,  in  future, 
elect  no  man  to  preside  over  the  councils  of  the  nation,  who  will 
support  and  sanction  this  system  of  extortion ;  they  should  choose 
their  Representatives  from  among  the  friends  of  Free  Trade,  and 
not  select  the  obsequious  partisans  of  the  manufacturers.  More 
weighty  and  useful  matters  should  claim  the  deliberations  of  Con- 


38 

gress,  than  the  enactment  of  bills  to  fix  a  partial  and  onerous  rate  of 
indirect  taxation ;  their  time  and  thoughts  should  be  occupied  by 
making  equitable  and  economical  disbursements  of  the  public  mo- 
ney ;  in  diminishing  the  public  burdens ;  in  preventing  all  useless 
expenditures  of  the  public  funds;  in  guarding  against  corruption  and 
mal-practices  in  office;  -in  rewarding  real  merit;  in  protecting  the 
unfortunate  ;  and,  by  all  means  in  their  power,  aiding,  not  only  the 
Indians,  but  the  distressed  emigrants  of  all  nations,  in  seeking  an 
asylum  on  the  public  lands,  that  there,  by  habits  of  industry,  they 
may  provide  themselves  and  needy  families  with  a  subsistence.  These 
are  some  of  the  sacred  duties  to  which  their  time  should  be  devoted. 
It  is  expected,  by  the  nation,  that  they  should  act  as  the  guardians 
of  the  rights  of  the  people ;  and,  by  their  example  for  morality  and 
disinterested  patriotism,  prove  to  their  constituents  that  they  are  wor- 
thy of  the  trust  reposed  in  them.  To  preserve  harmony,  there  must 
be  mutual  concessions,  and,  to  effect  this,  faction  must  not  predomi- 
nate over  the  best  feelings  of  the  heart.  The  greatest  triumph  a  man 
can  gain,  is  over  his  own  evil  passions,  and  this  is  applicable  to  pub- 
lic as  well  as  private  life.  During  the  session  of  Congress,  there  is 
too  little  magnanimity  displayed,  but  too  much  recrimination  and  an- 
imosity, and  which,  in  the  heat  ot  party  debate,  is  frequently  vented 
in  words  of  defiance  and  abuse. 

To  return,  however,  to  the  subject  of  foreign  commerce.  It  is 
much  to  be  desired  that  the  merchants  of  the  United  States  would 
unite  with  all  whose  interests  are  connected  with  maritime  affairs, 
and  demand,  as  a  right,  that  the  existing  arbitrary  and  unconstitu  - 
tional  Tariff  Act  should  be  repealed.  Let  them  say  to  the  Govern- 
ment, in  the  language  of  the  French  merchants,  "  Laissez  nous 
faire," — and  no  longer  tamely  submit  to  be  the  victims  of  measures 
that  are  irrational,  unnatural,  and  unjust.  If  they  do  not  boldly  com- 
bine with  their  oppressed  fellow-citizens  in  all  parts  of  the  United 
States,  to  defeat  the  machinations  of  their  political  enemies,  they  are 
unworthy  of  being  freemen,  and  must  yield  as  the  passive  slaves  of 
a  system  which  will  inevitably  render  them  poor  and  despicable. 
Half-informed  statesmen  frequently  betray  gross  ignorance  in  attempt- 
ing to  legislate  about  what  they  do  not  understand.  A  lawyer  may 
make  a  distinguished  figure  at  the  bar,  but  fail  in  the  counting-house 
to  show  himself  a  good  merchant,  and  only  expose  his  folly  in  inter- 
fering in  what  he  has  no  knowledge  of.  Trade,  like  water,  will  find 
its  level.  Attempt  not  to  interrupt  its  course — leave  to  the  enter- 
prize  and  experience  of  commercial  men  the  best  means  they  choose 


39 

to  adopt  for  regulating  their  own  concerns  ;  they  are  surely  compe- 
tent to  act  better  for  themselves  and  the  public;  than  others  can  for 
them ;  they,  of  course,  ought  to  know  how  to  employ  commercial  in- 
dustry to  the  best  advantage.  It  is  truly  absurd  in  Governments  to 
embarrass  trade,  by  prohibitive  laws  and  oppressive  exactions.  No 
improper  restraints  should  be  imposed  to  check  the  career  of  the  en- 
terprizing  commercial  spirit.  Leave  the  merchant  free  to  embark 
in  whatever  speculations  he  may  deem  most  profitable,  and  to  invest 
his  capital  in  the  manner  most  likely  to  conduce  to  his  interest. 
Suffer  him  to  go  unrestricted  to  that  sea  or  port  where  fortune  guides 
him.  Let  him  shape  his  course  to  the  South  Seas,  to  the  Indian 
Ocean,  to  the  Mediterranean,  or  to  whatever  part  of  the  world  he 
may  find  the  most  profitable  market.  It  is  the  remark  of  an  eminent 
writer,  that,  "  the  very  circumstance  of  the  existence  of  an  active 
external  commerce,  no  matter  what  agents  it  may  be  conducted  by, 
is  a  very  powerful  stimulus  to  internal  industry."  The  same  author 
adds,  "  Commercial  jealousy  is,  after  all,  nothing  but  prejudice — it 
is  a  wild  fruit,  that  will  drop  of  itself  when  it  has  arrived  at  maturity." 
In  this  enlightened  age,  and  in  the  advanced  state  of  political  pow- 
er and  prosperity  of  the  United  States,  the  people  should  be  ever 
watchful  of  any  attempt  to  encroach  upon  their  rights.  All  laws 
passed  for  creating  monopolies  are  inimical  to  the  liberty  of  the  citi- 
zen. Embargoes,  privileged  trading  companies,  and  high  duties,  are 
.lot  only  derogatory  to  the  character  of  a  Republic,  but  injurious  to 
he  interests  of  the  people.  If  the  nations  of  Europe  are  willing  to 
mbmit  to  this  species  of  tyranny,  God  forbid  that  the  American  Peo- 
ple should  so  degrade  themselves  as  to  follow  the  example  ! 

I  am,  sir,  yours, 

HERMANN. 


PHILADELPHIA,  July  \%tliy  1831. 

Dear  Sir :  The  indefatigable  exertions  you  are  making  to  propa- 
gate liberal  principles  in  favor  of  Free  Trade,  and  to  bring  to  the 
more  immediate  consideration  of  your  readers  the  importance  of  the 
subject,  gives  you  a  strong  claim  on  the  gratitude  of  the  public. 
The  doctrines  of  political  economy,  so  ably  taught  in  the  various 
colleges  of  the  United  States,  have  laid  a  solid  foundation  for  the 
commercial  prosperity  of  the  people,  which,  I  trust,  the  sophistry  of 


40 

a  futile  theory  will  never  subvert.  The  increasing  spirit  of  hostility 
to  the  "  American  System"  is  the  best  proof  of  the  progress  they 
have  already  made  towards  effecting  the  downfall  of  the  obnoxious 
Tariff.  The  diffusion  of  knowledge  is  undoubtedly  the  most  certain 
means  of  teaching  the  people  to  feel  the  true  nature  of  their  inde- 
pendence, to  reason  with  clearness  and  propriety,  to  discriminate  be- 
tween real  and  pretended  friends,  and  to  exercise  the  right  of  suf- 
frage with  a  judgment  unbiased  by  intrigue,  or  uninfluenced  by  cor- 
ruption. We  must  chiefly  rely  on  the  freedom  of  the  Press  for  an 
unreserved  communication  of  much  useful  and  valuable  information 
relative  to  civil  and  political  affairs ;  and  in  proportion  to  the  purity 
of  the  morals  of  editors,  and  their  respectability,  we  may  expect  to 
derive  from  them  a  faithful  and  impartial  account  of  men  and  mea- 
sures. The  responsibility  attached  to  their  characters  is  of  so  sacred 
a  nature  that  nothing  should  be  submitted  to  the  public  which  is  riot, 
to  the  best  of  their  belief,  founded  on  the  strictest  veracity.  We  are 
indebted  to  the  Banner  for  the  pleasing  intelligence  from  your  corres- 
pondents in  Ohio,  that  the  confidence  of  the  inhabitants  in  the  Ameri- 
can System  has  greatly  diminished.  The  agricultural  resources  of 
that  rich  and  interesting  State  are  immense — great  wealth  is.  yet  in 
reserve  for  her,  in  addition  to  what  she  already  enjoys.  As  her  in- 
ternal improvements  advance,  the  products  of  the  soil  will  increase 
in  value,  and  the  industry  of  her  hardy  and  enterprizing  yeomanry 
will  be  amply  rewarded.  We  have  much  to  expect  from  the  Editors 
of  the  Ohio  papers  from  which  you  have  made  repeated  extracts  ; 
their  liberality  and  sound  sense  entitle  them  to  the  thanks  of  their 
fellow-citizens,  as  also  their  able  vindication  of  the  cause  of  Free 
Trade,  and  their  decided  opposition  to  the  Tariff.  Such  zeal  and 
independence  are  truly  honorable  to  these  worthy  Editors,  who  have 
to  contend  against  bitter  prejudices.  Let  Ohio  unite  cordially  with 
the  Anti-Tariff  States,  and  we  shall  have  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
champions  of  the  Tariff.  Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  Georgia,  Tennes- 
see, Alabama,  Mississippi,  with  the  States  of  New  Hampshire  and 
Maine,  have  ineffectually  demanded  a  repeal  of  the  Tariff,  or  such 
a  modification  of  it  as  might  comport  with  their  interests  and  wishes. 
In  vain  have  their  people  petitioned.  In  vain  have  they  attempted 
to  be  heard  through  their  delegates.  Unheeded  are  their  complaints. 
Equally  deaf  to  the  voice  of  reason  and  justice,  the  enemies  of  Free 
Trade  revel  amidst  the  spoils  of  their  triumphs.  Intoxicated  with 
success,  they  continue  to  taunt  their  adversaries,  and  assail  them 
with  abuse.  Within  the  very  walls  of  Congress  the  envenomed 


41 

tongue  of  malevolence  has  traduced  the  Southern  people,  who  have 
been  basely  stigmatized  as  "  unfeeling  slave  lashers,  in  league  with 
England  to  oppose  the  honest  manufacturers  of  the  North."  I  will 
not  disgust  you  with  a  repetition  of  vulgar  and  despicable  observa- 
tions. Attempts,  however,  are  often  made  to  excite  discord  between 
the  North  and  the  South  by  such  disgraceful  language,  and  to  foment 
the  differences  which  unhappily  exist.  Virginia,  Georgia,  Alabama, 
with  their  sister  States,  have  not  been  spared  :  South  Carolina  has 
been  singled  out  as  a  fit  victim  to  glut  the  devouring  appetite  of  the 
Tariff  monster ;  her  sons  have  been  reviled  as  Bisunionists  and  Nul- 
lifiers.  She  has  espoused  a  righteous  cause,  and  with  justice  on  her 
side  she  will  nobly  maintain  it.  She  will  never  be  compelled  ta 
abandon  it  by  empty  threats  and  gasconade,  or  to  forsake  it,  by  arti-' 
fice.  The  violent  champions  of  the  Tariff,  more  wily  than  wise, 
have  persevered  in  their  hostility  to  South  Carolina,  and  denounced 
her  for  not  yielding  passive  obedience  to  tyranny  and  injustice ;  they 
have  essayed  to  fix  an  odium  on  her  character  by  the  most  insidious 
attacks.  It  is  always  better  to  appease  the  Lion,  than,  by  goading, 
provoke  him  to  resistance.  The  artful  distinction  which  the  friends 
of  the  Restrictive  System  have  attempted  ta  make,  by  attributing 
solely  to  South  Carolina  certain  principles,  under  the  title  of  the 
"  Carolina  Doctrines,"*  has  failed  to  answer  the  purpose  for  which  it 
was  probably  designed.  South  Carolina  has  not  the  vanity  to  claim 
what  is  common  property.  She  is  willing  to  divide  the  honor  of  op- 
posing and  exposing  the  evils  of  the  American  System  with  the  An- 
ti-Tariff States.  If  to  defend  the  inviolability  of  the  Constitution — 
to  vindicate  the  cause  of  Free  Trade — protect;  the  rights  of  the  citi- 
zen from  encroachment — -and  resist  Federal  aggression,  be  consider- 
ed an  offence,  then,  indeed,  has  South  Carolina  greatly  transgressed^ 
If  to  insist  upon  enjoying  the  advantages  of  foreign  commerce,  free 
from  the  embarrassments  and  exactions  imposed  by  legislative  inter- 
ference— to  resist  the  corrupt  influence  of  faction,  and  prevent  the 

*  Any  threat  of  coercion  to  pat  down  these  Doctrines,  and"  the  champions  of 
them,  must  eventuate  in  the  total  destruction  of  the  power  and  popularity  of  those- 
who  dare  to  make  the  experiment.  If  the  attack  should  ever  he  attempted,  the  sig- 
nal would  be  given  to.  sound  the  tocsin  of  Revolution  from  Maine  to  Georgia.  The 
military  Hero  who  has  been  elevated  to  the  first  office  of  this  Republic,. was  most 
ardently  supported  by  the  talents  and  chivalry  of  his  native  State,  and  the  very 
men  who  now  constitute  the  Free  Trade  Party,  were  his  firm  and  undeviating 
friends,  I  sincerely  hope  he  may  never  forfeit  their  good  opinion,  and  give  cause- 
for  the  application  of  the  maxim  "  Ingrato  homine  terra  peju?  nil  creat." 
6 


42 

extravagant  waste  of  public  money,  constitute  any  part  of  the  Caro- 
lina Doctrines,  then  has  she  no  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  her  conduct, 
but,  on  the  contrary, to  rejoice  in  the  devotion  of  her  sons  to  truth,hon- 
or,  and  justice.     South  Carolina  has  been  accused  of  an  intention  to 
nullify  an  act  of  Congress.     If  it  is  criminal  to  pass  an  unconstitu- 
tional and  oppressive  law,  why  then  is  it  a  crime  to  declare  it  null 
and  void,  when  the  absurdity  and  injustice  of  the  law  is  evident  to 
every  man  of  common  sense,  who  will  give  himself  time  to  reason 
and  reflect.     That  a  State  has  a  right  to  nullify  an  act  of  Congress, 
under  any  circumstances,  is  extremely  doubtful ;  but  if  a  State  is  ag- 
grieved  by  an  oppressive  and  unconstitutional  law  of  the  Federal 
Government,  the  choice  of  two  evils  is  left,  which,  in  my  opinion,  she 
has  a  right  to  exercise  :  Resistance  or  secession  from  the  Union.  The 
common  law  of  nature  sanctions  the  first — the  Federal  Compact  the 
other.     If  South  Carolina  did  not  cherish  this  compact — if  she  was 
not  sincerely  attached  to  the  Union,  she  would  not  so  strenuously  op- 
pose the  Tariff  on  the  ground  of  its  unconstitutionality.     Each  State 
is  sovereign  and  independent,  and  is  only  bound  by  a  moral  obliga- 
tion to  submit  to  the  laws  of  Congress,  provided  they  are  based  on 
equity.     Carolina  has  no  inclination  to  separate  from  the  Union,  un- 
less compelled  by  oppression,  and  the  Federal  Government  cannot 
prevent  her  from  peaceably  withdrawing.     The  distinguished  and 
very  sensible  author  of  the  Crisis  has  justly  remarked — "  If  there  be 
in  our  system  of  government  one  feature  which  is  delightful  for  the 
real  patriot  to  contemplate,  it  is  that  which  shows  the  inability  of  the 
Government  to  coerce  one  of  its  confederated  members.     If  friend- 
ship cannot  hold  us  together,  force  never  can.     He  is  much  mistaken 
who  can  imagine  that  the  same  physical  force  which  could  enable 
the  Government  to  put  down  one  of  the  twenty-four  Republics,  would 
not  so  endanger  the  whole  as  to  make  our  Government  any  thing 
than  what  it  now  is."     Let  us  hope  that  those  States  which  still  ad- 
here to  the  Tariff,  yielding  to  the  force  and  circumstances  of  the 
times,  will  relinquish  their  support  of  it,  and  unite  in  promoting  har- 
mony.    A  single  State  detached  from  the  Union,  would  be  produc- 
tive of  unhappiness  to  all ;  the  example  would  probably  be  followed 
by  others.     Such  a  desperate  step  could  only  be  the  dernier  resort  of 
a  people  to  whom  justice  is  denied.     To  bear  and  forbear,  forms  part 
of  the  Christian  doctrine :  this,  however,  may  be  carried  too  far  with 
high-spirited  and  enlightened  freemen.     It  matters  not  whether  per- 
secution proceeds  from  the  iron  grasp  of  an  Autocrat  or  an  Oligarchy, 
or  emanates  from  the  corrupt  influence  of  a  Democracy — the  effect 


43 

is  still  the  same;  and  the  pressure  is  felt  with  equal  force  by  the  peo- 
ple, until  the  day  of  retribution  arrives,  to  demand  a  fearful  reckon- 
ing with  their  oppressors.  Nothing  is  wanting  to  secure  the  pros- 
perity of  the  United  States,  and  the  peace  and  happiness  of  the  peo- 
ple, but  mutual  concession  and  conciliatory  feelings.  Let  recrimin- 
ation cease.  Let  animosities  and  narrow  prejudices  be  abandoned, 
and  the  very  recollection  of  them  buried  in  oblivion — without  which 
the  Union  can  never  be  safe. 

I  remain  yours, 

HERMANN. 


•  Jtj^iq  fPMpp  ;;T«|2*i  jpKntejf  *.to:  *ai 

PHILADELPHIA,  August  Wth,  1831. 

Dear  Sir :  To  the  successful  and  extensive  propagation  of  the 
liberal  principles  of  Political  Economy  through  the  Banner,  and  many 
highly  respectable  daily  papers,  we  may  confidently  look  forward  to 
a  speedy  termination  of  the  "  American  System."  With  the  extinc- 
tion of  the  present  Tariff,  the  cause  of  Free  Trade  will  acquire 
additional  strength ;  for  prejudice  and  ignorance  are  rapidly  yielding 
to  reason  and  common  sense.  I  cannot  be  persuaded  that  the 
character  of  the  nation  is  so  sunk,  and  the  patriotic  spirit  of  the 
people  so  tame,  as  to  be  made  much  longer  subservient  to  the 
Restrictive  System.  We  live  in  an  age  distinguished  by  the  pro- 
gress of  intellectual  worth ;  and  to  foster  a  policy  adverse  to  the 
beneficent  views  of  Providence,  and  the  welfare  of  mankind,  would 
be  characteristic  of  the  dark  times  of  imperial  despotism  and  super- 
stition. To  abandon  the  practical  and  substantial  advantages  of 
foreign  commerce,  for  the  selfish  principles  of  the  Restrictive  Sys- 
tem, is  to  retrograde  from  the  path  of  civilization,  and  to  exchange 
light  for  darkness.  The  Tariff,  under  all  existing  circumstances, 
and  with  the  vast  natural  resources  of  the  United  States,  is  perfectly 
injurious,  if  not  ruinous,  to  the  great  agricultural  and  commercial 
interests.  It  is  an  aati-republican  measure  of  the  most  disgraceful 
character.  No  language  is  too  strong  to  express  our  abhorrence 
of  it ;  it  needs  only  to  be  unmasked  and  stripped  of  its  loathsome 
deformity,  to  call  forth  the  execration  of  every  disinterested  man. 
A  very  distinguished  scholar*  of  South  Carolina,  on  a  recent  public 
occasion,  thus  emphatically  expressed  his  opinion  of  it : 

*  Hugh  S.  Legare,  Esq. 


44 

"  I  can  never  sufficiently  deplore  the  infatuation  which  has  brought 
such  a  scourge  on  this  favored  land,  which  has  entailed  (so  to  speak) 
the  curse  of  an  original  sin  upon  a  new  world,  and  upon  the  conti- 
nual multiplying  millions  which  are  to  inhabit  it." 

The  Tariff  is  suffered  to  exist  in  defiance" of  the  most  undeniable 
truths  which  have  ever  been  evinced  in  a  righteous  cause,  and  every 
axiom  that  can  be  produced  in  favor  of  Free  Trade.  It  is  a  politi- 
cal quackery  of  the  worst  sort,  and  opposed  to  doctrines  taught  by 
men  of  the  most  profound  learning  of  every  age  and  country,  and 
in  direct  hostility  to  the  most  lucid  philosophical  maxims  which  can 
possibly  originate  from  such  highly-gifted  minds  as  those  of  a  Fene- 
lon  and  a  Dugald  Stewart.  Nothing  is  spared,  by  the  present  system 
of  indirect  taxation,  which  contributes  to  the  comfort  of  man  ;  it 
taxes  the  necessaries  of  life,  and,  consequently,  most  seriously  affects 
the  industrious  poor  ;  the  very  implements  of  husbandry,  and  the  small 
invoices  of  goods  brought  by  the  unfortunate  emigrant  from  Europe, 
come  within  reach  of  its  detestable  power.  It  would  be  a  glorious 
era  in  the  history  of  the  United  States,  if,  on  the  repeal  of  the  Tariff, 
every  port  could  be  thrown  open  and  declared  free  to  the  trade  of  the 
world,  and  every  custom-house  converted  into  a  ware-house.  This 
would  be  a  decided  republican  measure,  although  not  immediately 
suited  to  the  interest  of  Government.  The  people  have  no  objection 
to  moderate  duties  for  the  purpose  of  revenue,  but  will  never  yield 
obedience  to  a  libertine  policy,  which  subjects  then  to  many  priva- 
tions, and  taxes  them  exorbitantly  for  the  protection  of  manufactures. 

A  very  popular  and  sensible  French  writer  remarks,  that  "  Exces- 
sive taxation  is  a  kind  of  suicide,  whether  laid  on  objects  of  neces- 
sity or  upon  those  of  luxury  ;  but  there  is  this  distinction,  that,  in 
the  latter  case,  it  extinguishes  only  a  portion  of  the  products  on 
which  it  falls,  together  with  the  gratification  they  are  calculated  to 
afford — while,  in  the  former,  it  extinguishes  both  production  and  con- 
sumption, and  the  tax-payer  himself  into  the  bargain."  The  products 
of  the  soil,  with  land  and  labor,  must  necessarily  depreciate  under 
the  existing  Tariff  Law  ;  and,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  labor- 
ers diverted  from  agriculture  to  manufactures,  will  the  loss  be  felt 
by  the  land  owners.  Every  man  of  common  sense  must  know,  that, 
whatever  measures  have  a  tendency  to  embarrass  trade  will  lessen 
the  demand  for  land  and  produce,  and,  by  checking  the  spirit  of 
emigration,  deprive  us  of  the  class  of  people  we  most  need,  the  cul- 
tivators of  the  earth.  Is  it,  then,  to-  be  wondered  at,  that  the  pro- 
ducers, whether  of  cotton,  rice,  wheat,  or  tobacco,  are  impoverished 


45 

by  the  Tariff?  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at,  that  the  Southern  planter? 
complain  and  demand  justice  1  Is  it  a  matter  of  surprise,  that  the 
consumers,  and  more  particularly  the  industrious  laboring  poor 
among  them,  are  beginning  to  inquire  why  they  are  so  extravagantly 
taxed  to  uphold  a  shameful  system  of  monopoly  ?  It  is  the  "  auri 
sacra  fames"  which  has  influenced  the  champions  of  the  Tariff. 
This  is  not  a  mere  question  of  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence — it  is 
not  a  sordid  calculation,  altogether,  of  the  value  of  manufactured 
goods,  or  of  the  products  of  the  soil ;  but  a  question  involving  the 
most  serious  and  important  principles  of  legislation  and  constitu- 
tional rights.  Are  the  people  willing  to  lose  a  valuable  foreign 
trade,  in  order  to  enrich  a  set  of  monopolizers  1  Are  they  prepared 
to  exchange  a  life  of  independence  for  a  state  of  vassalage,  and 
become  the  pliant  tools  of  a  monied  aristocracy  ?  Are  they  disposed 
to  see  the  efforts  of  genius  paralyzed,  and  the  principles  of  philan- 
thropy undermined  1 

The  time  must  speedily  arrive,  when  the  people  will  no  longer  be 
ensnared  by  the  empty  name  of  "  American  System."  This  fallacy 
will,  I  trust,  be  soon  condemned  to  merited  disgrace,  and  to  eternal 
oblivion.  The  people  of  this  great  Republic  are,  I  should  hope, 
too  wise,  too  generous,  and  brave,  not  to  prefer  union,  liberty,  and 
harmony,  to  the  dreadful  evils  which  the  present  Tariff  will  inevitably 
produce,  if  persevered  in.  Let  us  not  despair,  but  look  forward  to 
unmeasured  prosperity  for  the  United  States — let  us  not  omit  to 
turn  our  attention  to  the  record  of  days  past,  when  the  guardian 
genius  of  Columbus,  in  directing  him  to  the  new  world,  decided  on 
the  future  destiny  of  these  States  as  an  asylum  for  the  persecuted 
and  adventurous  spirits  of  the  old  world.  That  island  which  gave 
birth  to  a  Newton,  a  Locke,  a  Milton,  and  a  Pope,  was  destined,  by 
her  misguided  policy,  to  lose,  not  only  the  affection  of  her  American 
subjects,  but  the  vast  and  beautiful  colonies  which  now  so  happily 
constitute  the  greatest  Republic  on  the  globe.  Intellectual  endow- 
ments were  not  confined  to  Albion  ;  and  true  greatness,  which  is 
inseparable  from  virtue,  was  found  inherent  in  a  Penn,  a  Washington, 
and  a  Franklin.  The  same  merciful  Providence  which  regulates 
the  destinies  of  men,  determined  that  these  illustrious  characters 
should  move  in  a  sphere  of  usefulness,  from  which,  by  a  combina- 
tion of  causes,  the  most  glorious  events  have  transpired.  The 
arbitrary  power  of  the  mother  country  was  productive  of  evils 
which  brought  about  the  American  Revolution,  and  roused  a  spirit 
of  resistance,  from  Maine  to  Georgia.  The  united  eloquence  and 


46 

.  • 

valor  of  the  Patriots  of  '76  not  only  secured  Independence,  but  a 
Constitution  unrivalled  for  wisdom.  Commercial  restrictions  and 
taxation  were  part  of  the  grievances  which  caused  the  Revolutionary 
struggle,  and  the  loss  of  much  precious  blood. 

We  profess  to  advocate  and  practise  liberal  principles,  and  arro- 
gantly present  to  the  world  our  Republic  as  a  model  of  perfection. 
We  labor  under  a  fatal  delusion,  and  are  insensible  to  our  own 
follies.  Why,  then,  should  we  arraign  the  conduct  of  European 
nations,  and  charge  them  with  faults,  when  we  are  blind  to  our 
own  ?  History  gives  a  retrospective  view  of  all  the  excesses  which 
have  ever  been  committed,  for  ages  past,  against  the  laws  of  God 
and  man,  and  furnishes  a  minute  account  of  wars  and  revolutions, 
and  the  horrors  attendant  on  them.  The  nations  of  Europe  have 
been  contending,  for  centuries  past,  about  commercial  supremacy, 
und  have  seldom  or  never  been  at  a  loss  for  pretexts  to  wage  war. 
Some  monarchs,  guided  by  a  high  sense  of  honor  and  justice,  have 
anxiously  sought  to  maintain  peace — whilst  others,  regardless  of  the 
sufferings  of  their  subjects,  and  the  laws  of  neutrality,  have  out- 
raged both,  presuming  on  the  right  of  conquest,  to  subjugate  the 
weak  and  unoffending  to  their  fell  ambition  and  lawless  sway. 

Let^tts,  if  we  would  be  happy  and  prosperous,  shun  the  example 
of  foreign  Powers,  whose  sinister  policy  is  exhibited  in  acts  of  ex- 
tortion, in  fraud,  perjury,  and  corruption,  in  a  prodigal  expenditure 
of  the  public  money,  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  large  standing 
armies  and  immense  navies,  and  to  provide  for  court  pensioners, 
and  bestow  sinecure  places  on  political  gamblers  and  favorites,  devoid 
of  talents  and  morality.  Such  is  too  often  a  true  picture  of  despotic 
Governments.  Nature  has  indeed  been  truly  bountiful  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  her  favors  to  the  United  States,  and  we  should  be  uu- 
worthy  of  her  gifts  if  we  4id  not  fully  appreciate  them.  What 
necessity  can  there  be  for  forcing  manufactures  prematurely  oa  the 
nation,  and  then  taxing  the  people  by  exacting  high  duties  for  the 
protection  of  them  ?  Commerce  and  agriculture  have  a  prior  and 
stronger  claim  on  the  industry  of  man ;  they  are  his  natural  pursuits. 
"  We  must  necessarily  be  an  agricultural  people  for  more  than  a 
century  to  come."  Are  there  not  two  hundred  and  twenty  millions 
of  acres  of  public  lands  now  for  sale,  and  wanting  cultivation  ? 
Have  we  not  innumerable  lakes,  bays,  and  rivers,  which  unite  their 
waters  to  the  ocean,  and  open  a  vast  field  for  commercial  enter- 
prize  ?  Shall  we  not  then  profit  by  the.  goodness  of  a  wise  and 
omnipotent  Creator,  by  promoting  a  free  and  friendly  intercourse 


47 

With  the  nations  of  the  world,  instead  of  sinfully  thwarting  His 
glorious  intentions,  by  the  most  preposterous  and  unnatural  legisla- 
tive measures?  The  Anti-Tariff  States  have  borne  too  long  with 
the  injustice  of  the  Restrictive  System.  It  is  time  for  the  people 
to  act,  and  no  longer  submit  to  be  the  dupes  of  artifice  and  avarice. 
They  must  not  be  deterred  Jay  the  foul  tongue  of  calumny  and 
imbecile  threats,  from  doing  justice  to  themselves,  by  insisting  on  a 
repeal  of  the  Tariff,  that  Free  Trade  may  be  restored  to  the  pros- 
perity it  enjoyed  in  the  glorious  days  of  Washington. 

The  laws  of  God  and  nature  protect  the  injured.  It  is  the  duty 
of  every  good  citizen  to  practise  forbearance  as  long  as  possible, 
even  under  the  operation  of  bad  and  oppressive  laws,  rather  than 
disturb  the  peace  of  his  country;  but  the  patience  of  the  most  meek 
and  passive  dispositions  may  be  exhausted,  and  submission  become 
criminal,  and  resistance  a  virtue,  when  made  in  the  cause  of  free- 
dom and  justice.  Delay  is  dangerous — and  the  next  session  of 
Congress  must  not  pass  over  without  a  repeal  of  the  Tariff,  (com- 
monly called  the  *'  bill  of  abominations;")  and  this  alone  can  save 
the  Union  from  civil  commotion,  restore  freedom  of  trade,  and  con- 
fidence among  the  people. 

I  remain  yours, 

HERMANN. 


ill 


'!'.) 


lo 


A  CONTINUATION 


OF    THE 


LETTEES  OP 


AS    PUBLISHED    IN    THE 


BANNER  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION 


[The  first  of  the  following  letters  was  addressed  to  the  Editor  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Gazette,  who  accompanied  it  with  the  following  remarks. 

"  The  communication  of  HERMANN,'  in  an  adjoining  column,  is  worthy  of 
attention,  breathing,  as  it  does,  that  warm  spirit  of  adherence  to  the  integrity 
of  the  Constitution  and  the  welfare  of  the  country,  which  prevails  no  where 
in  the  Republic,  (all  misrepresentations  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,) 
more  vigorously  than  in  the  Southern  States.  We  were  almost  tempted  to 
omit  the  laudatory  commencement  of  our  correspondent's  article ;  but  the 
privilege  of  garbling  is  a  difficult  task;  and  we  should  be  loth  todisplace  the 
tribute  so  justly  paid  to  the  gentleman  who  weekly  unfurls  the  Banner  of 
the  Constitution.  It  is  a  matter  of  honest  pride  to  us,  that  the  Convention 
has  given  us  the  acquaintance  and  friendship  of  so  many  gentlemen  of  talent 
and  character  from  various  quarters  of  the  Confederacy."] 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,  October,  1831. 

Mr.  Editor :  I  shall  trespass  on  your  patience  but  for  a  few  mo- 
ments, if  only  to  assure  you,  sir,  of  the  very  favorable  impression 
you  have  made  on  the  minds  of  all  the  friends  of  Free  Trade,  by  the 
very  disinterested  part  you  have  taken,  and  the  patriotic  zeal  with 
which  you  have  conducted  your  valuable  Gazette  :  the  gratitude  of 
the  people  is  due  to  yourself,  as  well  as  to  the  worthy  and  talented 
Editor  of  the  Banner  of  the  Constitution,  for  the  able  and  indepen- 
dent manner  in  which  their  rights  and  interests  have  been  vindi- 
cated, whilst  investigating  and  exposing  the  evils  of  the  Tariff  Laws, 
which  have  produced  much  excitement  and  angry  feeling;  but  I 
will  not  impeach  the  motives  of  all  the  adversaries  of  Free  Trade,  and 
whatever  difference  of  opinion  may  even  exist  among  its  friends  as  to 
the  expediency  of  removing  this  sinister  policy,  (the  Tariff  of  the  go- 
vernment), I  trust  they  have  but  one  object  in  view,  the  welfare  of 


4 

the  Republic.  In  order  to  ensure  success,  we  must  act  with  energy 
and  unanimity,  and  cherish  the  most  perfect  good  will  from  a  respect 
to  our  cause  and  our  country. 

It  is  not  necessary  merely  to  reduce  the  Tariff  to  arithmetical  cal- 
culation to  prove  the  injustice  of  the  measure.  My  intention  is  not 
sordidly  to  count  the  cost  of  a  bag  of  cotton — a  bale  of  cloth — or  a 
barrel  of  ftour,  or  to  compare  the  value  of  imports  and  exports,  or 
the  rates  of  duties  for  the  last  ten  or  twenty  years,  but  to  inquire  by 
what  right  the  majority  of  Congress  has  ventured  to  enact  a  law  for 
the  protection  of  manufactures  to  the  injury  of  other  branches  of  in- 
dustry :  this  question  involves  a  principle  of  legislation  that  requires 
the  most  serious  consideration.  I  cannot  conceive  how  a  law  can 
possibly  be  constitutional  which  fosters  a  particular  interest,  whilst, 
by  its  operation,  the  prosperity  of  agriculture  and  commerce  is  ra- 
pidly declining.  The  Constitution  makes  no  express  provision  for 
the  protection  of  manufactures.  The  Tariff  is  an  evil,  for  which,  to 
use  the  words  of  an  eminent  statesman,  "  there  is  but  one  effectual 
cure — an  honest  reduction  of  the  duties  to  a  fair  system  of  revenue, 
adapted  to°the  just  and  constitutional  wants  of  Government — no- 
thing short  of  this  (adds  he,)  can'  restore  to  the  country  peace,  har- 
mony, and  mutual  affection."  Let  every  class  of  people  act  upon 
the  good  old  republican  doctrine,  that  of  confiding  in  their  own 
resources,  guided  by  a  spirit  of  enterprize  and  industry,  without  the 
officious  aid  of  the  Federal  Government.  The  principles  of  Free 
Trade  are  founded  on  the  immutable  laws  of  truth,  justice,  and  hu- 
manity, it  was  for  these  the  immortal  Patrick  Henry,  with  all  his 
impassioned  eloquence,  so  nobly  and  successfully  advocated — for 
these  same  principles  Washington  fought,  and  Warren  and  Mont- 
gomery bled.  The  Tariff  is  deeply  injurious  to  the  commercial  and 
agricultural  interests  of  every  State  of  the  Union,  but  more  particu- 
larly to  the  Southern  States,  which  can  never  prosper  unless  our 
commercial  intercourse  is  left  free  and  unembarassed  with  foreign 
nations.  I  will  here  beg  leave  to  introduce  a  short  extract  from  a 
letter  of  an  illustrious  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  the  venerable  Gene- 
ral Thomas  Sumpter,  who  still  lives,  a  noble  monument  of  his 
country's  glory.  I  thank  God,  he  lives  to  animate  by  his  example 
his  countrymen  to  vindicate  the  cause  of  State  Rights  and  Free 
Trade  !  The  letter  was  addressed  to  a  highly  respectable  gentleman 
of  South  Carolina — and  in  reply  to  his  correspondent  he  says  : 

"  Sir,  you  ask  '  my  views  on  the  subjects  which  now  agitate  the 
minds  of  our  people.'    Though  I  have  long  since  retired  from  public 


life,  and  given  myself  up  entirely  to  pursuits  more  congenial  with 
my  age — still,  as  I  have  always  deemed  it  the  duty  of  every  citizen 
of  this  Republic  boldly  to  espouse  one  side  or  the  other,  of  any 
question  which  may  involve  his  rights  and  liberties,  I  will  not  with- 
hold my  sentiments  from  my  fellow-citizens. 

"  For  a  long  time  I  had  taken  little  or  no  interest  in  the  politics  of 
the  country;  I  never  read  the  newspapers;  I  confidently  depended 
on  the  '  sense  of  the  American  People,'  but,  sir,  the  cry  of  dis- 
content has  at  length  reached  me,  and  I  awake  from  the  happiest 
dreams  of  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  my  country,  to  curse  the 
illusion. 

"  I  do  not  seek  the  reason  of  so  general  a  sentiment,  in  the  natural 
avarice  of  the  human  heart,  and  believe,  as  some  of  our  countrymen 
do,  that  it  arises  from  the  common  disposition  of  Southern  proprie- 
tors to  screen  their  fortunes  from  public  charges.  No,  sir,  when 
we  engaged  in  that  struggle  which  promised  to  secure  to  us  the 
enjoyment  of  unrestricted  liberty,  we,  had  nothing  to  complain  of; 
ours  was  the  most  favored  colony ;  bounties  were  given  for  every 
produce,  and  foreign  capitalists  investing  their  money  in  it,  rendered 
it  more  prosperous  than  any  of  the  others.  It  was  not  interest  that 
urged  South  Carolina  to  resist.  Can  she  now  have  changed  ?  She 
espoused  the  cause  of  her  sister  colonies,  not  through  resentment 
for  unmerited  inflictions,  but  through  principle  and  philanthropy. 
We  thought  that,  in  time,  we  might  groan  under  the  same  oppres- 
sion— and  before  the  storm  lowered  upon  us,  we  rose  and  dispersed  it. 

"  Under  like  circumstances  IT  is  OUR  DUTY  TO  RESIST,  and  theirs 
to  succour  us. 

"  The  overgrown  power  of  the  General  Government  may  reduce  us 
in  a  short  period  to  the  most  abject  slavery ;  but  it  is  the  noblest 
attribute  of  a  rational  being  to  foresee  the  effects,  and  suppress  the 
cause." 

These,  sir,  are  the  words  of  a  man  whom  we  all  delight  to  honor. 
They  flow  from  the  spirit  of  '76 ;  from  the  voice  of  a  friend  in  the 
hour  of  need  ;  they  are  as  a  precious  balm  in  the  patriot's  mind,  and 
nerve  his  arm  to  the  resistance  of  tyranny !  Would  to  God,  that 
the  voice  of  the  patriot  Hancock  could  be  heard  from  the  tomb 
once  more,  pleading  in  defence  of  the  injured  liberties  of  his  coun- 
try; loud  and  deep  would  be  his  execrations  of  this  iniquitous 
Tariff,  which  has  been  cruelly  and  artfully  imposed  on  the  Ameri- 
can People,  under  the  specious  and  erroneous,  though  dignified 
title  of"  American  System." 


6 

Mr.  Editor,  I  will  not  close  this  communication  without  noticing 
the  frequent  repetition  of  words  from  high  authority,  that  the  "  Union 
must  be  preserved !"  Does  not  the  poorest  and  most  obscure  citizen 
know  that  the  Union  can  only  be  rendered  safe  by  securing  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  Constitution  ?  The  preservation  of  the  Union  rests 
with  a  higher  power  than  that  of  any  man  in  this  Republic,  how- 
ever great  his  political  rank  ;  and  whatever  responsibility  may  attach 
to  Congress,  there  yet  remains  an  authority  still  superior! — the 
Sovereign  People  !  To  them,  in  all  cases  of  danger  and  difficulty,  I 
would  appeal  for  justice,  and  from  them  (alone,  if  necessary,)  I 
would  seek  redress.  They  will  never  suffer  the  band  which  unites 
these  States  (cemented  by  the  blood  of  our  Revolutionary  heroes) 
to  be  severed  by  avarice  and  discord.  The  Union  is  dear  to  us — 
we  all  love  and  cherish  it — but  when  put  in  competition  with  life, 
liberty,  and  property,  and  the  dearest  rights  of  man,  it  is  of  no  value: 
our  reliance  is  placed  on  the  sound  sense  and  good  feelings  of  the 
American  People,  who  have  been  so  ably  and  feelingly  addressed  by 
the  members  of  the  Free  Trade  Convention  recently  in  session  in 
Philadelphia. 

Our  enlightened  and  enterprizing  merchants  have  in  vain  present- 
ed memorial  after  memorial  to  Congress  ;  our  laborious  and  intelli- 
gent mechanics  have  sought  for  relief,  and  their  grievances  have 
been  disregarded,  a  deaf  ear  has  been  turned  to  their  complaints ; 
the  Blacksmiths  of  this  city  have  twice  petitioned  without  avail ; 
the  recommendations  of  President  Jackson  to  modify  the  Tariff  have 
been  treated  with  indifference  bordering  on  contumely.  Enlighten 
the  minds  of  the  People  as  to  their  true  interests,  by  teaching  them 
the  principles  of  Free  Trade — show  them  by  facts  how  shamefully 
they  are  taxed,  and  the  Tariff  monster  will  soon  fall,  never  to  rise 
again  in  this  free  and  happy  land. 

Yours,  &c. 

HERMANN. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,  December  1st,  1831. 

Dear  Sir :  I  presume  it  has  riot  escaped  your  memory,  that  I 
have  repeatedly  expressed  my  surprise  at  the  passive  condition  of 
Ohio  and  Kentucky,  under  the  existing  Tariff  Law.  These  two 
great  and  interesting  States  are  composed  of  an  intelligent,  en- 
lightened, and  industrious  population,  whose  interest  will  very  long 
confine  them  to  agricultural  pursuits;  too  independent,  and  im- 
patient of  servile  confinement,  they  are  not  disposed  to  abandon 
the  cultivation  of  their  fertile  soil,  and  the  clearing  of  the  forest, 
to  toil  at  the  loom  and  spinning  wheel.  What  then  can  prompt 
the  hardy  yeomanry  of  the  West  to  support  a  law  which  renders 
tributary  to  manufacturing  avarice  their  labor  and  resources,  so 
naturally  allied  to  the  free  and  unrestricted  trade,  which  God  and 
nature  always  designed  should  be  left  open,  to  gratify  the  wants 
of  man  with  the  least  possible  inconvenience,  and  without  the 
unwise  and  imprudent  interference  of  Government.  An  extreme- 
ly well-written  and  plausible  Address  of  the  Tariff  Convention, 
lately  held  in  the  city  of  New  York,  contains  the  most  extraor- 
dinary doctrine  ever  maintained  by  sensible  and  well-informed 
men.  The  authors  of  this  Address  say,  "  as  a  municipal  princi- 
ple, there  is  no  question  of  the  great  advantages  of  Free  Trade. 
The  United  States,  in  their  coasting  trade  and  domestic  exchanges, 
afford  the  most  striking  illustrations  of  them  ever  witnessed ;  but 
as  between  foreign  nations,  there  is  no  Free  Trade — there  never 
was — there  never  can  be ;  it  would  contravene  the  arrangements 
of  Providence,  which  distribute  mankind  into  different  communi- 
ties, separated  originally  by  confusion  of  tongues,  and  prevented 
from  all  rushing  together  into  the  most  favored  latitudes,  by  local 
attachments  and  foreign  antipathies,  which  are  the  germs  of  na- 
tional preservation,  by  means  of  national  emulation."  Again,  observe 
the  writers  of  the  Address,  "  the  freest  of  Free  Trade  is,  after  all, 
but  a  chartered  libertine." 

We  really  scarcely  know  whether  to  smile  or  look  grave,  on 
reading  these  remarks,  and  are  almost  temptejd  to  exclaim,  in  the 
language  of  the  Poet,  "  risum  teneatis  amici"?  That  Free  Trade 
may  interfere  with  the  ambitious  views  of  the  manufacturers,  I 
can  readily  admit,  but  how  it  can, possibly  contravene  the  arrange- 
ments of  Providence,  is  certainly  a  paradox  I  do  not  compre- 


8 

hend.  What  raised  ancient  Tyre  to  the  very  pinnacle  of  commercial 
prosperity  but  Free  Trade?  What  gave  Holland  the  rank  she 
holds  among  nations  ?  What  has  given  respectability  and  wealth 
to  the  German  cities  of  Bremen,  Hamburg,  Lubec,  Dantzic,  and 
the  Belgic  town  of  Antwerp  ?  Free  Trade !  The  ways  of  Pro- 
vidence are  wise,  beneficent,  and  just,  and  are  intended  to  pro- 
mote the  welfare  of  mankind ;  they  keep  pace  with  the  princi- 
ples of  Christianity,  which  inculcate  among  people  of  all  nations 
peace,  harmony,  and  good  will.  They  teach  us  to  cultivate  an 
intercourse  with  the  human  race,  for  the  purpose  of  not  only  mi- 
tigating their  miseries,  but  improving  their  condition,  and  correct- 
ing "  foreign  antipathies ;"  and  how  can  this  be .  better  accom- 
plished than  by  a  free  and  unfettered  commerce  with  the  nations 
of  the  globe,  from  which  the  greatest  advantages  arise,  both  to 
the  arts  and  sciences.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  of  eve- 
ry free  nation  to  afford  all  possible  facility  to  foreign  trade,  the 
blessings  of  which  are  of  incalculable  value.  Commerce  tends  to 
promote  civilization,  to  bring  the  people  of  the  various  countries 
of  the  world  to  reciprocate  good  offices;  to  exchange,  on  terms  of 
reciprocity,  the  products  of  the  soil,  and  all  such  articles  as  are 
required  to  supply  the  wants  of  man,  both  as  to  the  necessaries 
and  luxuries  of  life,  and,  by  imparting  a  knowledge  of  languages, 
to  remove  from  the  whole  human  family  prejudices  and  animosities 
which  are  characteristics  of  the  dark  ages,  and  disgrace  the  most 
savage  and  untutored  tribes. 

The  phrase  of  "  chartered  libertine,"  would  be  infinitely  tnore 
applicable  to  the  present  Tariff  than  to  Free  Trade — for  it  origi- 
nated in  a  selfish  monopolizing  spirit,  forced  upon  the  people  un- 
der the  most  delusive  and  meretricious  form,  by  plundering,  un- 
der the  authority  and  corrupt  influence  of  a  law,  the  poor,  and 
enriching  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many.  Free  Trade 
is  sanctioned  by  the  laws  of  God  and  nature;  it  is  pure  and  un- 
disguised— it  benefits  both  rich  and  poor ;  aided  by  human  en- 
terprize  and  ingenuity,  it  distributes  the  most  precious  gifts  through- 
out the  Universe;  and  whilst  it  rewards  the  merchant  and  hardy 
mariner,  it  amply  repays  the  husbandman  for  his  labor,  and  opens  a 
ready  market  to  all  classes  of  mechanics  and  manufacturers,  for  their 
wares  and  merchandise. 

It  is  stated  in  the  Address  that  "  aversion  to  the  manufactures 
has  engendered,  of  late,  bitter  local  prejudices,  in  parts  of  those 


States  in  which  they  do  not  flourish."  There  does  not  exist  any 
spirit  of  hostility  to  manufactures,  it  is  solely  directed  against  the 
Tariff:  let  the  manufacturers  be  satisfied  to  confide  in  their  own 
resources,  without  the  aid  of  the  Government,  and  they  will  se- 
cure the  support  and  good  wishes  of  the  Southern  States.  No 
man  "spurns  the  golden  fleece  of  his  own  soil,"  but  every  man 
of  spirit  and  common  sense  should  spurn  the  band  of  the  op- 
pressor, and  resent  the  wrongs  imposed  on  his  country.  The  Ad- 
dress, though  replete  with  talent  and  ingenuity,  cannot  make  ,  a 
convert  to  "  the  American  System,"  and  must  give  increased  con- 
fidence to  the  friends  of  Free  Trade. 

Providence  is  ever  propitious  to  the  efforts  of  those  who  seek 
not  to  derange  the  order  of  the  creation — the  organization  of  which 
is  so  perfect  under  the  Divine  wisdom,  and,  if  left  to  the  natural 
course  of  events,  and  the  gradual  work  of  time — would  fulfil  all 
that  could  be  desired  by  the  most  righteous,  without  any  regard 
to  the  distribution  of  mankind  into  different  communities,  and 
their  original  separation  by  "confusion  of  tongues."  When  men 
deviate  from  the  path  of  rectitude,  and  violate  the  most  sacred 
compacts  by  usurpations  of  power,  and,  by  flagrant  acts  of  injus- 
tice and  perfidy,  attempt  to  oppress  the  poor,  and  fail  to  com- 
plete their  schemes  of  aggrandizement  and  insatiable  avarice,  they 
become  too  prone  to  lay  the  fault  to  Providence,  instead  of  their 
own  guilt ;  and  are  never  at  a  loss  for  pretexts  to  justify  their 
conduct. 

Under  the  pretence  of  regulating  commerce,  Congress  has  vio- 
lated the  Constitution,  by  imposing  the  most  oppressive  and  exor- 
bitant duties  on  the  useful  and  necessary  articles  of  life,  to  give 
protection  to  manufactures,  and  rear  up  a  dangerous  influence, 
and  an  overgrown  monied  aristocracy — equally  injurious  to  the 
peace  of  the  Union  and  the  rights  of  freemen!  if  the  people 
delay  any  longer  to  shake  off  this  thraldom  of  the  mis-called  Ameri- 
can System,  if  they  do  not  fearlessly  resist  these  acts  of  oppres- 
sion and  rapacity,  they  will  (to  use  the  language  of  an  able  po- 
litical writer)  be  taxed  more  and  more  to  support  increasing  bur- 
dens :  and  the  extortion  of  such  taxes  will  rivet  the  poverty  and 
ignorance,  through  which  alone  these  burdens  are  endured.  It 
is  thus  that  the  tyranny  of  the  rulers,  and  the  degradation  of  the 
people,  must  keep  equal  pace.  It  is  thus  that  despotism  forms 
a  natural  alliance  with  ignorance;  blasts  every  charm  of  rational 
nature,  and  blunts  every  feeling  of  the  human  heart,  There  is} 
2 


10 

indeed,  a  point  at  which  the  oppression  of  the    most    abject    be- 
comes no  longer    safe.      The   principles    from  which  the  present 
Tariff  law  derives   its  support,    are    at    variance  with   truth,    ho- 
nor, and   justice;  they  wage  war  against  common  sense  and   hu- 
manity, and  even  set  at  defiance  the  maxims  of  the  Christian  Re- 
ligion.    We  need  not  a  lawyer,  or  a  judge,  to  interpret  the  Con- 
stitution for  us— the  merest  Tyro  who  reads,  may  understand  it, 
and  learn  that  there  is  no  power  granted  by  it  to  tax  the  people 
unequally,  unequitable/,  and  without  their    consent.     The    Ameri- 
can People  ought  not    to  suffer  themselves   to    be    misled  by  the 
pernicious  and  corrupt  policy  of  foreign  governments — let  us  bor- 
row all  which  is  good  from  them,  and  only  imitate  their  examples 
when  their  success  is  gained  by  wisdom  and  virtue.       Let  us  not 
be  the  dupes  of  men  who  adopt  stratagem  to  advance  their  favor- 
ite measure,  who  oppose  to  the    lucid  and  incontestable  precepts 
of  eminent  political  economists,  the  sophistry  of  false  philosophy, 
and  endeavor  to  support  their  opinions  by    labored    and  intricate 
arithmetical  calculations,  which  serve  to  perplex  without  convinc- 
ing;   and  who  obstinately  reject  facts  and    principles,    either   be- 
cause they  militate  against  their  interests,  or  are  unwilling  to  ad- 
mit the  validity  of  them.     The  advocates  of  the  Restrictive  Sys- 
tem have  vainly  attempted  to  prove  that  our  agriculture  and  com- 
merce must  flourish  under  this  oppressive  system  of  indirect  taxa- 
tion.    I  cannot  persuade  myself  that  they  are  serious  in  thinking 
they  can  maintain  an  argument  so  incongruous  and  weak.     Teach 
the  people  of  the  great  commercial  and  agricultural  States  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  true  principles  of  Free  Trade,  and  this  fallacious  doc- 
trine will  be  dispelled  like  the  lurid  mist  before  the  brilliant  light 
of  the  sun.     Will  the  intelligent  and  patriotic  people  of  Ohio  and 
Kentucky  consent  to  part  with  the  substance  for  the  shadow,  and 
be  made  instrumental  in  bringing  this   free  and  happy    Republic 
under  the  yoke  of   tyranny,  by  adopting  a  vile,    selfish,    Chinese 
policy,  and  rejecting  the  bountiful  hand  of  Providence   extended 
to  lavish  upon  them  all  the  most  rich  and  choice  commodities  of 
foreign  climes,  in  exchange  (yes,  in  fair   and  honest  barter)  for 
the  redundant  products  of  their  fertile  and  favored  soil?     Do  not 
the  industrious  farmers  know  that,  in  proportion  as  the  burden  of  in- 
direct taxation  is  increased  upon  us,  our  lands  and  the  products  of 
the  soil  must  greatly  depreciate?     It  is  sufficient  to  raise  a  revenue 
to  answer  the  wants  of  the  Government,  by  imposing  moderate  du- 
ties, so  as  not  to  infringe  the  Constitution  and  impoverish  the  people, 


11 

without  excluding  foreign  commerce,  and  degrading  the  nation.  We 
care  not  for  heavy  duties  on  wines,  and  the  luxuries  of  the  table  ;  if 
the  rich  consume  them,  they  can  afford  to  pay  for  them.  The  peo- 
ple have  a  right  to  demand,  in  justice  to  themselves,  and  from  a  re- 
gard to  the  honor  of  their  country,  that  the  duty  on  sugar,  salt,  iron, 
coarse  woollen  and  cotton  goods,  cotton  bagging,  hemp,  books,  maps, 
paintings,  and  many  other  articles,  should  be  reduced  to  less  than 
one-half  the  present  rate.  I  repeat,  that  the  Western  States,  parti- 
cularly Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  have  no  interest  in  support- 
ing the  present  Tariff.  It  behooves  them  to  sympathize  with  their 
Southern  brethren,  and  put  a  termination  to  this  licensed  system  of 
plunder.  The  States  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  derive  much 
wealth  with  their  intercourse  with  the  South.  I  hope,  in  a  future 
communication,  to  furnish  you  with  a  particular  account  of  the  im- 
mense quantity  of  stock'  which  has  passed  from  the  West  into  the 
States  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  during  the  last  eight  months  ; 
and  as  the  following  statement,  taken  from  a  public  journal,  may  be 
interesting,  I  herewith  enclose  it.  The  Saluda  mountain  turnpike 
is  situated  in  a  beautiful  and  romantic  part  of  South  Carolina,  about 
fourteen  miles  from  Buncomb,  in  North  Carolina,  and  unri- 
valled by  any  part  of  the  world  for  the  salubrity  of  its  climate. 
The  stock  driven  through  the  Saluda  turnpike  for  the  last  two  years, 
was  noted  down  in  the  toll  book;  the  year  is  computed  from  the  1st 
of  April  to  the  31st  of  March,  inclusive. 

1830.  1831.         decrease. 

Horses  and  mules,  4,866  3,293  1,573 

Beef  cattle,  2,335  1,790  1,445 

Hogs  and  sheep,  29,884          26,551  3,333 

Supposing  the  average  value  in  1830,  to  have  been  $90  a  head  for 
horses  and  mules,  $20  a  head  for  beeves,  and  $7  a  head  for  hogs — 
and  the  same  for  1831,  except  that  hogs  might  be  averaged  at  $8  a 
piece — the  aggregate  for  the  former  year  will  be  $682,828,  and  for 
the  latter  $544,578. 

The  raising  of  stock  is  of  immense  value  to  the  Western  States, 
and  in  proportion  as  the  foreign  trade  of  the  South  increases,  and  is 
restored  to  its  original  prosperity,  in  the  same  ratio  will  the  West  ad- 
vance to  wealth  and  importance.  Be  assured  that  no  man  feels  a 
stronger  attachment  to  every  section  of  the  Union,  and  is  more  de- 
sirous of  seeing  the  Federal  Compact  preserved  and  restored  to  its 
primitive  purity,  than 

Your  Friend  and  Correspondent, 

HERMANN. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,  December  30,  1831. 

Dear  Sir:  At  no  period  of  the  history  of  this    great   Federal 
Republic,  since  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  has  an  Ameri- 
can Congress  assembled  to  legislate  on  a  subject  which    involves 
so  deeply  the  sectional  feelings   and    interests  of    the    People    of 
•the  United  States,  as  the  Tariff  Law  of  1828 — theirs  is  a  heavy 
and  a  fearful  responsibility,  and  it  remains  to  be  seen  and  known, 
whether  the  termination  of  the  session  will  be  welcomed  by  mil- 
lions of  freemen  for  services  rendered  them,  or    be  saluted    with 
the  bitter  execration  of  every  honest  man  who  abhors  tyranny  and  in- 
justice.     Let  us  hope  that  the  deliberations  of  that  body  will  be 
governed  by  the  good  old  maxim  of   "  Salus  Populi  suprema  eat 
lex,"  and  that,  unembarrassed  by  sophistry  and  intrigue,  they  will 
calmly  proceed  in  a  straight  forward  course  of  honorable  legisla- 
tion, based  on  principles  of  equity,  and  guided  by  a  spirit  of  con- 
ciliation.    If  the  majority  in  Congress  have  any  desire  to  preserve 
the  Union  of   the  State?,    and  the    kindred    feelings    which    add 
great  moral  strength  and  respectability  to    that    Union,    they    will 
not  hesitate  to  repeal  the  Tariff,    or    modify    it,  to  comport  with 
the  interests  and  wishes  of  the  people,  and  to  answer  "the  just 
and  constitutional  wants  of  the  Government."     The  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,    in    his    late  and  able  Report,   has  well  remarked, 
"  that  extreme  measures  adopted  by  slender    majorities,    and   ob- 
noxious  to  the  interests  and    opinions  of  minorities,  powerful    in 
numbers,  wealth  and  intelligence,  cannot  be  persevered   in   with- 
out danger  to  the  general  harmony,  and  without  undermining  the 
moral  power,  not  merely  of  the  Executive  and  Legislative  Depart- 
ments, but  also  that  of  the  Judiciary  which  may  be  called  to  sustain 
the  authority,  without  the  option  of  deciding  on  the  expediency  of 
the  measure." 

.  The  President  is  not  ignorant  of  the  perilous  and  critical  situa- 
tion of  the  Union,  and  I  will  do  him  the  justice  to  say,  that  I  believe 
he  is  sincerely  desirous  of  reconciling  the  conflicting  interests  of  the 
Northern  and  Southern  States,  and  he  has  evinced  this  disposition,  by 
recommending  a  modification  of  the  Tariff,  as  the  surest  means  of 
removing  all  cause  of  discontent. 

No  harm  can  arise  from  heavy  imposts  on  mere  luxuries  of  the 
table,  such  as  are  in  general  use  among  the  rich — but  on  all  arti- 
cles consumed  by  the  poor,  more  particularly  iron,  salt,  sugar,  hemp, 


1,3 

cotton  and  woollen  goods,  the  duties  should  be  reduced  to  at  least 
one-half  of  their  present  rates.  All  pretext  for  persevering  in  the 
Restrictive  System  is  at  an  end.  The  National  Debt  (if  the  plan 
recommended  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  be  adopted)  will 
speedily  be  extinct.  The  Public  Lands  are  rapidly  increasing  in 
value,  and  great  sums  will  be  derived  from  the  sale  of  them. 
Can  it  be  from  apathy,  ignorance,  or  fear,  that  the  People  have 
submitted  so  tamely  to  an  unjust  and  unequal  system  of  indirect 
taxation  ?  Do  they  claim  to  be  freemen,  and  boast  of  their  char- 
tered fights?  Among  the  enlightened,  these  motives  do  not  ex- 
ist. The  champions  of  the  American  System  may  gain  proselytes 
by  working  on  the  prejudices  and  passions  of  weak  minds,  and 
tempting  the  avarice  of  the  sordid  and  uninformed ;  their  pseudo 
philosophy  must  vanish  like  the  "  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision," 
when  opposed  by  the  lucid  and  solid  principles  of  Free  Trade. 
The  Restrictive  System  is  a  compound  of  fraud,  corruption,  and 
oppression.  It  is  the  genuine  offspring  of  monopoly,  reared  by 
a  monied  aristocracy,  and  cherished  for  the  support  of  a  favored 
few.  I.t  is  a  system  worthy  of  the  dark  ages  of  bigotry  and  feu- 
dalism. 

The  doctrine  of  Free  Trade  advances  rapidly  with  the  march 
of  Intellect,  and  keeps  pace  with  the  progress  of  Christianity. 
The  same  Providence  which  directs  the  steps  of  the  pious  pilgrim, 
ordains  that  Nations  (without  regard  to  geographical  distinctions 
and  dissimilarity  of  language)  should  do  all  possible  good  to  each 
other :  the  principles  of  Christianity  impose  it  on  them  as  a  sa- 
cred duty  ;  these  same  principles,  like  a  mandate  from  the  Su- 
preme Director  of  the  Universe,  enjoin  mankind  to  practice  for- 
bearance and  mutual  concession,  and  has  created  the  ocean  as  a 
great  highway,  whereby  the  people  of  each  quarter  of  the  globe 
may  exchange,  on  terms  of  reciprocity,  the  natural  products  of  the 
soil,  and  the  works  of  human  ingenuity  and  labor.  According  to  an 
eminent  and  much  admired  author,  "  the  more  extended  and  the  more 
constant  intercourse,  which  the  improvements  in  commerce  and 
the  art  of  navigation  have  opened  among  the  distant  quarters  of 
the  globe,  cannot  fail  to  operate  in  undermining  local  and  national 
prejudices,  and  imparting  to  the  whole  species  the  intellectual  acqui- 
sitions of  each  particular  community." 

It  would  be  needless  for  me  to  enumerate  all  the  great  writers  on 
Political  Economy  whose  works  are  so  familiar  to  you.  They  have 
dwelt  with  force  and  perspicuity  on  the  blessings  derived  from 


H 

Free  Trade,  and  have  exposed  the  fallacy  of  that  policy  which 
the  arbitrary  and  corrupt  Governments  of  Europe  have  adopted  to 
fill  an  exhausted  treasury  ;  they  have  clearly  pointed  out  the  ma- 
ny evils  which  result  from  laws  imposing  burdens  on  the  people 
by  exacting  exorbitant  duties  on  all  such  articles  as  they  are  most 
in  want  of,  and  have  proved,  by  sound  incontestable  reasoning, 
the  imbecility  of  measures  (no  matter  under  what  plausible  title  they 
are  disguised)  which  frustrate  the  wise  arrangements  of  Providence, 
by  deranging  the  natural  course  of  trade,  perplexing  the  merchant, 
and  creating  embarrassments,  which,  whilst  they  implicate  the 
character  of  the  Government,  produce  a  most  injurious  and  paralyz- 
ing effect  on  the  various  branches  of  labor  connected  both  with  agri- 
culture and  commerce. 

I  am  yours,  &-c. 

HERMANN. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,  February  %7th,  1832. 

My  Dear  Sir :  I  hasten  to  give  you  the  intelligence  that  the  spi- 
rit'which  has  so  long  existed  in  South  Carolina,  in  opposition  to  the 
Tariff,  is  daily  acquiring  strength,  and  I  trust  that  there  will  shortly 
be  but  one  opinion  on  the  subject  of  our  grievances,  and  of  the  ne- 
cessity of  fearlessly  resisting  the  usurpations  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. What  surprises  me,  is;  that  so  many  disinterested,  amiable, 
and  intelligent  men,  should  be  found,  in  the  Northern  States,  advo- 
cating a  system  of  commercial  restriction,  and  building  their  faith 
on  the  speculative  opinions  of  visionary  experimentalists,  or  siding 
with  men  whose  eager  desire  to  acquire  wealth  induces  them  to  sa- 
crifice the  best  feelings  of  their  nature,  and  disregard  the  moral  pre- 
cepts of  the  Christian  Religion.  It  is  much  to  be  lamented,  that  the 
worthy  and  independent  yeomanry  of  your  beautiful  State  should 
sanction  measures  which  owe  their  origin  to  the  corrupt  policy  of 
Asiatic  and  European  despotism — a  policy  which  can  only  be  com- 
pared to  the  pestilential  blast  of  the  Syrian  Sirocco,  that  withers  the 
fairest  fruits  of  the  earth — a  policy  at  variance  with  the  laws  of 
God  and  nature.  Have  the  honest  and  industrious  German  farmers 
so  soon  forgot  the  good  old  German  maxim  of  "  Die  Handelschaft 
ist  des  reichthums  mutter  ?" — [Trade  is  the  mother  of  wealth] — 


15 

and  do  they  not  know  that,  as  long  as  they  are  tributary  to  the  pre- 
sent Tariff  Law,  they  will  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  manufacturers  1 
their  lands  and  produce  must  depreciate,  and  their  wealth  will,  of 
course,  be  greatly  diminished,  with  the  extinction  of  foreign  trade. 
Should  the  Tariff  be  persevered  in,  and  the  protecting  duties  on  all 
the  useful  and  necessary  articles  be  retained  and  submitted  to  by  the 
North,  then  I  solemnly  aver  that  the  Union  cannot  last.  At  the 
South,  we  will  no  longer  submit  to  be  oppressed.  Sir,  the  crisis  has 
arrived,  when  Congress  must  not  be  deaf  to  our  remonstrances.  We 
are  inspired  with  confidence,  by  confiding  in  a  righteous  cause. 
We  shall  trust  to  our  own  energies,  in  hopes  of  more  prosperous 
days. 

We  are  daily  becoming  more  and  more  united  at  the  South.  We 
cling  to  the  Constitution  as  to  the  ark  of  our  political  salvation. 
Our  motto  is,  "  Semper  paratus  et  semper  Jidelis" — Rather  than 
wear  the  accursed  Tariff-yoke  much  longer,  we  will  resist.  Believe 
me,  sir,  this  is  no  empty  gasconade.  For  my  own  part,  so  sacred  do 
I  consider  the  cause  of  Free  Trade,  that  I  am  willing  to  go  with  my 
friends  in  good  or  evil  fortune  ;  come  what  may,  I  will  never  abandon 
them  ;  our  honour  is  pledged  ;  we  must  not  retreat — that  would  be 
a  dastard's  part.  I  cannot  yet  persuade  myself  that  there  are  men 
so  silly,  so  wicked,  and  so  heartless,  as  to  sacrifice  the  peace  of  the 
Union,  and,  by  persisting  in  error,  drive  the  people  of  the  South  to 
desperation ;  but  when  the  trial  comes,  we  will  meet  it  like  men 
should  do  when  opposed  to  tyranny  and  injustice — and  we  will  not 
disgrace  our  ancestors.  The  smiles  of  our  patriot  Fair,  with  more 
than  Spartan  virtue  and  Spartan  heroism,  will  bless  our  efforts;  the 
spirits  of  our  departed  patriots  of  the  Revolution  will  consecrate  our 
Free  Trade  Banner,  and  lead  us  on  to  triumph. 

I  will  now  close  this  brief  communication  by  assuring  you  that 
there  can  be  no  stronger  proof  of  the  ardent  and  sincere  feeling  of 
the  people  of  this  State,  in  favor  of  Free  Trade,  than  what  has  been 
manifested  by  their  representatives,  in  the  Convention  which  closed 
on  Saturday  the  25th.  The  Chief  Magistrate  of  South  Carolina 
presided,  with  all  that  dignity  and  urbanity  so  characteristic  of  a  re- 
fined gentleman.  It  was  to  me  a  triumph  of  feeling  I  did  not  ex- 
pect to  enjoy,  to  have  an  opportunity  of  beholding  so  numerous  and 
highly  distinguished  a  body  of  Delegates,  from  all  parts  of  the  State 
— from  the  mountains  to  the  seaboard.  Our  upper  country  is  full  of 
chivalry  and  talent.  Col.  Preston  spoke  with  all  the  dignity  and  elo- 
quence of  a  Cicero :  his  language  is  classical — his  manner  is  elegant 


10 

and  impressive — his  oratory  is  of  the  highest  order — and,  when  he 
became  animated,  he  enraptured  the  feelings  of  his  auditors ;  as 
much  so  as  I  can  possibly  conceive  Patrick  Henry  must  have  done 
in  his  best  days.  The  author  of  the  Crisis  expressed  himself  with 
all  the  impassioned  feeling  of  a  Brutus :  he  was  extremely  eloquent 
— his  words  are  suited  to  his  action,  forcible  and  interesting — his 
style  of  speaking  correct,  and  his  elocution  purely  classical.  I  re- 
fer you  to  the  Mercury,  and  Free  Trade  Evening  Post,  for  a  particu- 
lar account  of  the  proceedings  of  this  Convention.  I  do  not  mean  to 
flatter  when  I  assert  that  I  never  remember  to  have  seen,  in  any 
part  of  Europe  or  the  United  States,  a  more  respectable  assemblage 
of  citizens;  the  most  perfect  decorum  was  observed;  the  number  of 
persons  collected  was  computed  at  three  thousand  ;  nearly  one-half 
were  ladies.  The  three  venerable  patriots  of  the  Revolution,  Sum- 
ter,*  Hamilton,  and  Simons,  were  prevented  from  attending,  by  indis- 
position and  their  great  age.  These  brave  and  virtuous  men,  in 
whose  hearts  the  spirit  of  the  year  '76  is  deeply  implanted,  (I  thank 
God,)  are  spared,  by  a  wise  and  merciful  Providence,  to  animate  the 
sons  of  Carolina  to  the  resistance  of  tyranny.  Did  you  ever  know  a 
Revolutionary  patriot  who  was  not  an  enemy  to  oppression,  and  an 
advocate  of  Free  Trade  ?  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  most  enlight- 
ened statesmen  and  the  greatest  moral  writers  of  the  age. 
I  am  yours  truly, 

HERMANN. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,  March  8th,  1832. 

Dear  Sir :  I  must  claim  your  indulgence  for  intruding  on  your 
notice  a  subject  somewhat  irrelevant  to  what  I  intended  should  have 
been  the  purport  of  this  communication.  I  cannot,  as  a  friend  of 
Free  Trade,  patiently  submit  to  the  insidious  and  sarcastic  attacks 
which  have  been  directed  by  some  of  the  champions  of  the  Ameri- 
can System  against  the  vital  interests  of  the  South,  by  ascribing 
their  impoverished  condition  to  the  evil  effects  of  negro  slavery,  and 
the  planting  life,  instead  of  an  odious  and  oppressive  Tariff  Law. 

It  is  easy  to  refute  the  fallacy  of  their  remarks.  A  cause  must  be 
desperate  when  flimsy  pretexts  and  mere  surmise  are  its  only  sup- 

*  The  illustrious  Sumterdied  on  the  first  of  June,  nearly  a  century  old. 


17 

port ;  and  it  is  really  absurd  to  suppose,  that  the  prosperity  of  the 
Southern  States  has  declined  from  the  great  increase  of  the  slave 
population;  the  prosperous  situation  of  IJavana  and  New  Orleans 
are  sufficient  to  prove  the  futility  of  such  an  observation.  The  slaves 
of  those  cities  constitute  the  laboring  class,  and  are  by  far  the 
majority  of  the  inhabitants.  St.  Petersburg,  the  great  and  wealthy 
metropolis  of  the  most  powerful  nation  on  the  globe,  has  a  full 
share  of  them  ;  and  the  serfs  compose  a  great  part  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  Russian  Empire.  Smyrna,  which  is  the  most  considerable 
city  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  abounds  in.  slaves  :  according  to  the  au- 
thority of  Mr.  Hobhouse,  it  continues  to  increase,  and  in  1809  was 
said  to  contain  nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants ;  and 
he  states  that,  previous  to  1675,  it  had  been  partially  destroyed  six 
times  by  earthquakes.  Smyrna  is  described  as  having  a  spacious 
and  secure  harbor,  and  surrounded  by  a  fertile  country  ;  and  yet,  in 
spite  of  slavery,  incursions  of  the  sea,  earthquakes,  and  annual  visits 
of  the  plague,  that  city  continues  to  prosper.  The  most  formidable 
nations  of  antiquity  were  possessed  of  slaves.  Was  Rome  less  war- 
like, less  rich  and  enlightened,  because  slavery  was  sanctioned  by 
her  laws  ?  Did  it  impede  the  march  of  intellect  ?  Or  how  could  she 
have  produced  such  men  as  a  Pliny,  a  Tacitus,  a  Livy,  a  Horace,  a 
Virgil  and  a  Cicero.  It  did  not  interfere  with  the  progress  of  the 
arts  and  sciences  ;  which  were  so  munificently  patronized  ;  or  with 
her  gigantic  strides  to  power  and  conquest.  Why  blend  the  sub- 
ject of  negro  slavery,  at  this  particular  juncture,  with  the  Tariff, 
unless  to  hold  it  out  as  a  bugbear,  to  alarm  the  weak  and  timid,  and 
cause  a  division  in  favor  of  high  duties,  manufactories,  monopolies, 
smuggling,  and  all  the  evils  which  this  prolific  American  System  has 
given  birth  to. 

I  regret  that  even  in  the  good  old  State  of  Virginia,  there  are  so 
many  respectable  and  intelligent  men  who  have  depicted,  in  the  most 
gloomy  colors,  the  distress  of  the  white  population,  and  attributed  it 
to  negro  slavery  ;  but  the  truth  is,  the  roving  disposition  of  our 
people,  their  fondness  of  novelty,  and  a  natural  desire  to  benefit  by 
a  change  of  residence,  have  induced  thousands  to  emigrate  from  Vir- 
ginia and  the  Carolinas  to  the  Western  and  South-western  States. 
Not  so  with  Georgia  ;  which  has  increased  more  rapidly  in  popula- 
tion than  any  other  State  of  the  Union,  (except  New  York)  ;  espe- 
cially when  we  consider  that  not  more  than  a  century  has  elapsed 
since  the  landing  of  General  Oglethorpe  with  the  first  settlers  from 
England,  and  she  now  has  a  population  of  more  than  half  a  million 
'3 


18 

of  souls.  The  States  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Alabama  have 
been  formed  by  emigrants,  chiefly  from  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas. 
The  spirit  of  emigration  still  exists,  and  at  this  very  time,  numerous 
poor  families,  as  well  as  planters  owning  from  twenty  to  an  hundred 
slaves,  are  moving  to  the  South-west,  to  settle  on  more  fertile  lands 
than  those  they  abandon. 

In  a  country  of  such  vast  extent  as  the  United  States,  and  pos- 
sessed of  some  hundred  millions  of  acres  of  productive  and  unculti- 
vated land,  inducements  to  emigrants  will  continue  for  a  century  to 
come,  particularly  with  thepeople  of  the  South,  whose  occupations 
and  habits  are  entirely  opposed  to  the  drudgery  of  a  manufacturing 
life,  and  who  seek  competency,  independence,  and  wealth,  from 
commercial  and  agricultural  pursuits. 

As  to  any  apprehension  of  a  general  insurrection  of  the  negroes, 
there  can  be  none ;  partial  disturbances  may  sometimes  take  place 
from  a  want  of  prudence,  vigilance,  and  proper  energy  on  the  part 
of  the  white  population.  A  half  dozen  of  well  armed  and  reso- 
lute men  might  have  prevented  the  tragical  affair  of  Southampton, 
when  a  fanatical  negro  monster,  at  the  head  of  a  ferocious  banditti, 
destroyed  many  valuable  lives.  Negro  slaves  should  be  kept  in  strict 
subordination,  but  yet  treated  with  great  humanity  ;  and  those  per- 
sons who  seek  to  effect  their  immediate  emancipation  are  their  worst 
enemies.  This  must  be  left  to  the  gradual  work  of  time  ;  a  prema- 
ture abolition  would  not  only  create  general  distress  among  the  white 
inhabitants,  but  might  eventuate  in  a  total  destruction  of  the  negro 
race  in  the  United  States.  Justice  and  humanity  forbid  it.  Under 
the  laws  of  the  Southern  States,  negro  slaves  are  considered  as  pro- 
perty ;  and  that  man  who  would  dare  venture  to  deprive  me  of  my 
property  by  force,  I  should  consider  as  a  personal  enemy,  and  resist 
him  at  the  hazard  of  my  life.  This  subject  has  been  most  ably  dis- 
cussed by  a  very  sensible  writer,  in  the  Richmond  Enquirer,  under 
the  signature  of  Appamatox :  he  has  taken  a  most  correct  and  com- 
prehensive view  of  it,  sufficient  to  convince  every  impartial  man  of 
the  danger,  impolicy,  and  injustice  of  agitating  the  question  of  eman- 
cipation. 

The  Southern  States  do  not  complain  of  negro  slavery,  and  desire 
no  interference  with  their  interests,  which  they  are  both  willing  and 
able  to  defend.  I  repeat  that  it  is  the  Tariff  which  oppresses  them, 
and  they  never  can  prosper  until  the  Federal  Government  abandons 
that  iniquitous  system,  which  is  rapidly  exhausting  their  resources ; 
restricting  our  foreign  commerce,  arid  forcing  our  people  from  the 


19 

land  of  their  nativity.  Let  the  Federal  Government  restore  to  us 
the  Free  Trade  System  of  the  days  of  Washington,  and  give  to  us 
what  God  and  nature  intended  we  should  enjoy,  or  the  Union  will 
be  but  a  phantom,  from  which  we  can  derive  no  good.  Let  us  have 
the  restoration  of  that  unrestricted  commerce,  "  to  the  influence  of 
which,"  in  the  language  of  a  distinguished  writer,*  "  we  owe  that 
mild  revolution,  which  banished  the  fierceness,  the  turbulence,  the 
darkness,  and  the  iron  slavery  of  the  feudal  times  ;  and  substituted 
the  social  virtues,  the  lights  of  science,  the  liberal  feelings,  and  the 
gentle  subordination  of  FREEDOM." 

If  the  violent  advocates  of  high  duties  would  but  relax  a  little  of 
their  intractable  spirit,  and,  yielding  to  the  wishes  of  their  Southern 
brethren,  consent  to  such  a  reduction  as  would  give  us  a  Tariff  not 
for  the  purpose  of  protecting  manufactures,  but  solely  for  revenue, 
and  to  answer  the  moderate  wants  of  the  Government,  then,  indeed, 
would  the  value  of  the  Union  be  placed  beyond  all  calculation  ;  we 
should  hear  no  more  of  sectional  jealousies ;  the  intrigues  of  mer- 
cenary and  evil-minded  politicians  ;  or  the  bickerings  of  malcontents : 
the  halcyon  days  of  a  Washington  would  revive  with  the  return  of 
harmony  ;  the  only  struggle  between  the  North  and  the  South  would 
be  which  should  do  for  the  other  the  utmost  possible  good.  Com- 
merce, agriculture,  and  manufactures  would  prosper ;  the  busy 
scenes  of  commercial  life  would  animate  and  enrich  every  section 
of  the  United  States ;  and  greater  facilites  would  be  afforded  to  the 
poor  and  industrious  emigrants  from  Europe  to  seek  an  asylum  in  a 
country  which  offers  a  vast  field  for  their  enterprize. 
Your  obedient  servant,' 

HERMANN.t 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,-  March  I5t7i,  1832. 

Dear  Sir  :  The  voice  of  the  people  of  the  Anti-Tariff  States  ur- 
gently calls  for  a  redress  of  their  wrongs ;  it  feelingly  appeals  to 
the  good  sense  of  their  fellow-citizens,  and  solemnly  invokes  the 
Supreme  Author  of  ajl  ^Good  to  shield  them  from  injustice  and 

*  Robert  Walsh. 

f  This  communication  was  intended  for  the  Banner,  but  the  publication  of 
it  was  omitted. 


20 

oppression.  The  friends  of  Free  Trade  await,  with  extreme  soli- 
citude, the  result  of  the  deliberations  of  the  Federal  Government 
on  the  Tariff.  Although  a  great  discrepancy  of  opinion  prevails 
as  to  the  expediency  of  reducing  the  duties  on  particular  articles 
manufactured  and  produced  in  the  United  States,  with  a  view  to 
a  revenue  to  meet  the  just  and  constitutional  wants  of  the  Go- 
vernment, yet  all  parties  coincide  in  declaring  the  necessity  of  some 
modification.  However  great  the  obliquity  which  has  been  attempt- 
ed to  be  cast  on  the  friends  of  Free  Trade,  yet  it  is  known,  throughout 
this  Republic,  that  they  require  nothing  but  what  is  just  and  reason- 
able. Their  interests  have  been  sacrificed  to  a  selfish  and  sinister 
policy ;  they  have  borne  the  evils  of  the  "  American  System,"  until 
patience  is  exhausted,  and  submission  becomes  almost  criminal.  I 
bewail  the  infatuation  which  exists  among  the  most  prominent  cham- 
pions of  the  Tariff,  who  insist  on  retaining  the  protective  duties,  and 
have  evinced  a  desire  to  augment  them.  I  will  not  use  the  language 
of  reproach,  but  I  admonish  them  not  to  disregard  the  murmurs  of 
an  indignant  and  aggrieved  people.  Those  who  know  how  to  value 
the  inestimable  blessings  of  foreign  commerce,  will  indeed  be  debas- 
ed, if  they  do  not  fearlessly  resist  any  further  encroachment  on  their 
rights.  Free  Trade,  like  a  pillar  of  light,  will  yet  guide  those  who 
are  enveloped  in  Tariff  darkness,  to  a  knowledge  of  their  true  inter- 
ests. A  restoration  of  foreign  commerce,  unembarrassed  by  heavy 
and  vexatious  imposts,  would  give  an  impulse  to  every  branch  of 
American  industry.  Agriculture,  now  suffering,  would  revive  and 
prosper,  attended  by  a  general  improvement  in  all  the  mechanic  arts. 
It  only  requires  to  be  released  from  the  present  unnatural  and  flagi- 
tious system,  to  have  the  commercial  energies  of  the  nation  fully  de- 
veloped, and  to  witness  the  rapid  advancement  of  navigation,  with 
a  return  of  more  happy  times  to  the  inhabithants  of  our  Southern 
towns. 

An  eminent  writer  on  Political  Ecenomy*  has,  with  truth,  remark- 
ed, that,  "under  a  system  of  perfectly  free  commerce,  each  country 
naturally  devotes  its  capital  and  labor  to  such  employments  as  are 
most  beneficial  to  each.  This  pursuit  of  individual  advantage  is  ad- 
mirably connected  with  the  universal  good  of  the  whole.  By  stimulat- 
ing industry,  by  rewarding  ingenuity,  and  by  using  most  efficacious- 
ly the  peculiar  powers  bestowed  by  nature,  it  distributes  labor  most 
effectively  and  most  economically ;  while,  by  increasing  the  general 

*  David  Ricardo. 


21 

mass  of  productions,  it  diffuses  general  benefit,  and  binds  together, 
by  one  common  tie  of  interest  and  intercourse,  the  universal  society 
of  nations  throughout  the  civilized  world." 

How  purely  philanthropic  and  benevolent  are  these  principles ! 
How  widely  opposed  to  the  miserable  doctrines  advanced  in  support 
of  the  Tariff,  which  has  not  a  good  feature  to  recommend  it !  It  is 
strange  that  any  section  of  this  country  should  be  so  tamely  submis- 
sive to  the  Restrictive  System,  and  that  any  portion  of  the  population 
should  be  so  deluded  as  to  conceive  it  beneficial  to  the  general  inter- 
ests of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  A  Fenelon,  a  Franklin,  a 
Dugald  Stewart,  were  men  of  consummate  virtue  and  erudition,  and 
possessed  of  a  perfect  knowledge  of  mankind.  They  ably  advocated 
the  principles  of  Free  Trade ;  they  illustrated  their  doctrines  with 
philosophical  accuracy,  which  have  been  as  much  respected,  to  this 
day,  as  were  ever  the  writings  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton.  But  it  seems  we 
have  a  new  race  of  philosophers,  sprung  up  since  the  days  of  Wash- 
ington, who  are  determined  to  govern  the  good  people  of  this  Repub- 
lic by  their  rules  of  arithmetic  and  morality. 

Every  disinterested  and  reflecting  man  must  condemn  the  Tariff, 
as  unjust  and  partial.  Smuggling,  fraud,  and  perjury,  constitute  its 
immorality ;  and,  not  the  least  of  all  the  evils  derived  from  it  is  the 
torch  of  discord  which  has  been  kindled  among  a  people  whose  po- 
litical salvation  depends  on  union.  These  are  inconteslible  facts,  and 
should  be  universally  promulgated.  The  complaints  of  the  people 
of  the  Southern  States  have  been  too  long  unheeded  and  regarded 
as  idle  clamor,  and  their  means  of  resistance  treated  with  scorn  :  but 
calumny  is  the  coward's  weapon,  and  never  more  despicable  than 
when  turned  against  the  virtuous  and  brave.  The  resources  of  the 
South  have  been  much  underrated.  Fanatics  and  alarmists  have 
endeavored  to  work  on  the  feelings  of  the  timid,  in  the  slave-holding 
States,  by  an  attempt  to  blend  with  the  American  System  an  impro- 
per and  officious  interference  to  regulate  the  condition  of  the  ne- 
groes, for  the  purpose  of  diverting  the  white  population  from  the  evils 
of  the  Tariff.  A  vain  and  silly  effort !  The  people  of  these  States 
are  fully  capable  of  regulating  their  own  affairs  ;  they  are  neither  defi- 
cient in  moral  or  physical  powers,  and  are  powerful  enough  to  crush 
domestic  foes,  and  protect  their  rights  and  property  from  invasion. 
Blessed  with  a  genial  clime  and  fertile  soil,  they  are  chiefly  instru- 
mental in  providing  the  Government  with  the  means  of  conducting 
the  fiscal  concerns  of  the  nation.  It  would,  indeed,  be  the  extreme 
of  folly  to  expect  the  agricultural  States  to  abandon  all  the  blessings 


22 

of  foreign  commerce,  and  reject  the  gifts  of  a  bounteous  Providence, 
which  has  wisely  ordered  that  nations,  like  men,  shall  be  dependent  on 
each  other.  The  rich  staples  of  the  South,  consisting  principally  of  cot- 
ton, rice,  and  tobacco,  are  eagerly  sought  after  for  European  markets, 
as  they  are  superior  in  quality  to  similar  products  of  other  countries  ; 
and  the  preference  will  be  given  to  the  United  States,  from  the  faci- 
lities afforded  to  mercantile  transactions  by  a  liberal  policy  of  Go- 
vernment. Without  this,  trade  must  necessarily  dwindle  into  in- 
significance, and  then  farewell — a  long  farewell — to  all  our  great- 
ness. 

It  is  useless,  at  this  time,  to  enter  into  a  detailed  account  of  the 
distresses  of  the  Southern  States,  occasioned  by  the  Tariff;  they  are 
too  notorious,  and  severely  felt,  to  need  a  repetition.  I  cannot  give  a 
greater  proof  of  the  value  of  the  trade  of  Europe,  to  the  South,  than 
by  stating,  that,  out  of  a  million  of  bales  of  cotton,  Great  JBritain 
alone  is  a  purchaser  of  six  hundred  thousand  bags — (no  mean  cus- 
tomer, it  must  be  granted.)  Not  less  than  two  hundred  thousand 
bags  are  annually  exported  to  France  and  Germany.  And,  at  the 
very  extent,  the  home  consumption,  in  every  possible  way,  does  not 
annually  exceed  two  hundred  thousand  bags.  Out  of  the  crop  of 
rice,  amounting  to  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  tierces, 
at  least  forty  thousand  are  annually  exported  to  Germany  and  the 
Netherlands,  twenty  thousand  to  Great  Britain,  and  as  nearly  as 
much  to  the  ports  of  France  ;  the  trade  of  Cuba,  which  is  of  vast 
importance  to  the  United  States,  takes  off  from  sixteen  to  twenty 
thousand  barrels  annually.  Of  tobacco,  supposing  the  crop  of  the 
United  Srates  to  amount  to  eighty-five  thousand  hhds. — which  I  be- 
lieve to  be  correct — Great  Britain,  Germany,  and  the  Netherlands, 
take  about  an  equal  quantity,  amounting,  in  all,  to  sixty  thousand  hhds.; 
leaving  only  twenty-five  thousand  to  be  shipped  to  other  countries  and 
for  home  consumption. 

It  is  from  these  great  and  profitable  markets  that  the  champions  of 
an  oppressive  Tariff  wish  to  force  the  sons  of  the  soil,  and  render 
them  tributary  to  the  lords  of  the  loom  and  spinning-jenny.  The 
combination  could  not  have  been  successful  at  Harrisburg,  without 
doing  something  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  the  sugar  planters 
and  the  proprietors  of  iron  mines;  and,  accordingly,  heavy  imposts 
have  been  levied  on  foreign  sugar  and  iron.  Even  salt,  so  neces- 
sary to  the  health  of  man  and  beast,  pays  a  tax  of  ten  cents  per 
bushel. 

You  have  given,  in  one  of  your  numbers  of  the  Banner,  (Volume 


23 

II,  page  320,)  an  authentic  table  of  the  duties  paid  in  Canada  by  the 
subjects  of  Great  Britain.  By  this  statement,  it  appears  that  the  popu- 
lation of  the  Canadas  are  infinitely  more  favored  than  the  people  of 
the  United  States.  The  Canadian  subjects  of  his  Britannic  Majesty 
pay  a  duty  of  only  2J  per  centum  on  cotton  and  woollen  goods,  the 
same  on  hardware  ;  hemp  is  free  of  duty,  as  well  as  salt,  and  sugar 
pays  only  one  cent  per  pound.  In  the  United  States,  we  are  taxed 
from  30  to  150  per  centum  on  cotton  goods,  and  50  to  250  per  cent, 
on  woollens,  hardware  27J  per  centum,  hemp  $60  per  ton,  sugar  3 
cents  per  pound. 

It  would,  however,  be  superflous  to  add  any  thing  further  on  this 
subject,  as  many  sensible  and  judicious  remarks  have  recently  been 
made  on  it  by  the  estimable  author  of  the  Boston  Memorial,  in  the 
fourth  No.  of  his  "  Exposition  of  Evidence  in  support  of  the  Memori- 
al to  Congress."  This  worthy  patriot  has  disclosed,  throughout  his 
long  and  faithful  services  in  the  cause  of  Free  Trade,  an  honest, 
fearless,  and  zealous  spirit,  worthy  of  the  days  of  those  illustrious 
men,  Samuel  Adams  and  John  Hancock. 

I  am  ever  yours, 

HERMANN. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,  March  30*A,  1832. 

Dear  Sir :  If  any  man  had,  twenty,  or  even  ten,  years  ago,  ven- 
tured to  assert  that  the  Federal  Government  would  be  justified,  in  a 
time  of  profound  peace  with  the  nations  of  the  world,  in  maintain  ing 
a  burdensome  Tariff  upon  the  people  of  the  United  States,  to  protect 
manufactures,  I  should  have  considered  him  as  laboring  under  a 
strange  delusion.  The  nation,  however,  is  not  only  on  amicable 
terms  with  Europe,  but  is  nearly  free  of  debt,  and  possessed  of  some 
hundred  millions  of  acres*  of  land  for  sale.  Yet  such  is  the  per- 
verseness  of  human  nature,  that  men,  under  all  these  favorable  cir- 
cumstances, are  to  be  found  advocating  the  necessity  of  supporting 
the  oppressive  system  of  indirect  taxation  as  the  "  settled  policy  of 

*  It  is  supposed,  that  the  whole  amount  consists  of  a  thousand  and  eighty 
millions  of  acres,  a  part  of  which  has  been  surveyed, 


24 

the  nation ;"  and,  in  case  the  free  sons  of  America  should  attempt 
to  resist  this  odious  tyranny,  they  are  thereatened  with  an  appeal  to 
the  sword  and  bayonet,  and  at  a  time  when  we  have  a  right  to  ex- 
pect the  utmost  moderation  and  equity  from  the  Government. 
Surely,  sir,  this  threat  must  be  nothing  but  the  effusion  of  an  esprit 
egare;  it  is  too  ludicrous  and  quixotic!  The  gallant  champions  of 
the  loom  and  the  spinning-jenny  cannot  be  serious ;  for  they  certain- 
ly know  that  this  is  not  a  nation  of  slaves,  from  whom  the  most  ab- 
ject submission  is  required,  to  an  unjust  and  unnatural  law, 
originating  from  a  spirit  of  faction  and  avarice.  Has  it,  indeed, 
come  to  this  unhappy  pass,  that  every  candid  and  independent  citi- 
zen, who  openly  avows  his  hostility  to  a  grinding  and  injurious  policy, 
so  repugnant  to  the  principles  and  interests  of  freemen,  should,  in 
a  language  of  contumely,  be  denounced,  by  political  adventurers 
and  aspirants  for  popular  favor,  as  foreigners  and  aliens  at  heart  ? 
And  must  abuse  be  substituted  for  argument? 

Depend  upon  it,  this/«rce  cannot  succeed  ;  the  advocates  of  Free 
»  Trade  will  not  be  compelled  to  abandon  a  just  cause,  either  by  in- 
timidation or  ribaldry ;  the  sophistry  of  our  opponents  will  be 
destroyed  by  the  light  of  reason.  Our  doctrines  are  based  on  the 
sacred  principles  of  Christianity  ;  they  emanate  from  truth  and  hu- 
manity ;  they  require  no  specious  name  to  bring  them  into  notoriety  ; 
they  consist  of  "  a  reciprocation  of  kind  affections,  expressions,  and 
actions ;"  we  do  not  wish  to  astound  by  high-sounding  titles,  or  to 
build  our  faith  upon  a  system  of  vexatious  taxation,  that  would  dis- 
grace an  Asiatic  despot.  It  is  not  by  groping  the  way  through  a 
maze  of  metaphysical  disquisition  that  we  seek  to  make  converts : 
ours  is  a  far  nobler  object.  It  is  to  warn  our  fellow-citizens,  in 
every  section  of  the  Union,  against  the  danger  of  monopolies,  united 
to  an  overgrown  monied  aristocracy — against  the  immoral  influence 
of  injudicious  Tariff  Laws,  which  introduce  fraud,  perjury,  poverty, 
and  smuggling. 

As  freemen,  it  becomes  our  duty  to  protest  against  the  acts  of  an 
arbitrary  majority ;  and  I  thank  God  that  no  alien  or  sedition  law 
exists,  to  forbid  the  freedom  of  opinion.  The  name  of  Albert  Gal- 
latin — if  from  no  other  cause — is  rendered  illustrious  by  his  oppo- 
sition to  those  abominable  bills,  and  will  be  transmitted  with  honor 
to  a  grateful  posterity  ;  the  eminent  services  rendered  by  him  to  his 
adopted  country,  are  generally  acknowledged.  A  late  distinguished 
and  talented  Virginian,  in  passing  a  just  eulogium  on  his  character, 
has  said:  "The  accuracy  of  his  information,  the  extent  of  his 


If 

knowledge,  the  perspicuity  of  his  style,  the  moderation  of  his  tem- 
per, and  the  irresistible  energy  of  his  reasoning  powers,  render  him 
the  ablest  advocate  that  ever  appeared  in  the  cause  of  truth  and 
liberty.  Patient  and  persevering,  temperate  and  firm,  no  error  es- 
capes his  vigilance — no  calumny  provokes  his  passions.  To  expose 
the  blunders  and  absurdities  of  his  adversaries,  is  the  only  revenge 
he  will  condescend  to  take  for  their  insolent  invectives.  Serene  in 
the  midst  of  clamors,  he  exhibits  the  arguments  of  his  opponents  in 
their  genuine  colors,  he  divests  them  of  the  tinsel  of  declamation 
and  the  cobwebs  of  sophistry,  he  detects  the  most  plausible  errors, 
he  exposes  the  most  latent  absurdities,  he  holds  the  "  mirror  up  to 
folly,"  and  reasons  upon  every  subject  with  the  readiness  of  intui- 
tion, and  the  certainty  of  demonstration."  The  Memorial  of  the 
Free  Trade  Convention,  to  Congress,  is  a  strong  and  satisfactory 
proof  that  time  and  age  have  not  in  the  smallest  degree  impaired  the 
faculties  cf  Mr.  Gallatin;  this  great  and  venerable  statesman — 
whose  merits  entitle  him  to  the  most  dignified  office  in  the  gift  of 
the  people — whose  mind  is  unsullied  by  prejudice,  and  untrammelled 
by  intrigue — has,  in  devoting  his  time  to  the  rights  and  interests  of 
his  fellow-citizens,  fully  exposed  the  fallacy  of  the  Restrictive  Sys- 
tem. He  very  properly  denominates  that  the  true  American  System 
which,  free  of  restrictions,  and  permitting  every  man  to  pursue  those 
occupations  for  which  he  was  best  fitted,  had,  in  less  than  two  cen- 
turies, converted  the  wilderness  into  an  earthly  paradise,  and  out  of 
a  few  persecuted  emigrants  had  created  a  prosperous,  happy,  and 
powerful  nation. 

It  is  admitted  by  the  most  erudite  writers  on  Political  Economy, 
that  the  Government  which  unwisely,  and,  indeed,  flagitiously,  in- 
terferes with  the  designs  of  Providence,  to  regulate  the  destinies  of 
a  people,  without  a  due  consideration  to  their  political  and  moral 
welfare,  and  fails  to  impart  to  every  class  equal  immunities,  not  only 
transgresses  against  the  beneficent  laws  of  God,  but  violates  a  sacred 
trust,  the  power  of  governing  with  the  most  perfect  regard  to  the 
interests,  happiness,  and  equal  rights  of  the  governed.  It  would 
evidently  seem  criminal  in  a  Government  established  by  a  free 
people  as  the  safeguard  of  their  liberties,  not  only  to  protect  and 
favor  particular  interests,  and  to  lose  sight  of  the  general  good — there- 
by producing  jealousies,  sectional  distinctions,  and  discontent — but, 
moreover,  by  imposing  heavy  restrictions  on  foreign  commerce,  di- 
minish, if  not  gradually  destroy,  that  natural  intercourse  the  Almigh- 
ty ordained  should  be  cultivated,  for  wise  purposes,  to  diffuse  more 
4 


26 

geneially  those  blessings  which  lie  in  his  mercy  can  bestow,  and 
which  he  has  left  to  the  industry  and  enterprize  of  man  to  obtain 
by  honest  means,  and  without  the  tyrannical  abuse  of  power,  in  any 
or  every  part  of  the  habitable  globe. 

In  the  words  of  a  learned  and  liberal  writer  in  the  16th  No.  of 
the  Southern  Review — "  We  must  declare  all  legislation  which  is 
not  necessary,  to  be,  ipso  facto,  oppressive,  and  therefore  unconsti- 
tutional. With  regard  especially  to  restrictions  on  commerce,  im- 
posed with  a  view  to  foster  domestic  industry,  they  are,  if  there  be 
any  virtue  in  Political  Economy,  the  exercise  of  a  power  which  no 
free  Government  can  be  supposed  to  possess,  without  a  contradiction 
in  terms — 3  power  to  levy  a  tax,  without  an  adequate  object — to 
take  away  a  greater  amount  of  property  from  some  classes,  in 
order  to  secure,  without  any  benefit  to  the  public,  a  smaller  amount 
of  property  to  others." 

"  The  American  System," — as  it  is  whimsically  termed — consists 
of  principles  which  constitute  a  policy  altogether  foreign  ;  for,  what 
system  can  be  truly  American,  which  fosters  a  spirit  of  monoply — 
which  encourages  a  lavish  expenditure  of  the  public  treasure  to  pro- 
mote internal  improvements  in  some  favored  parts  of  the  United 
States,  and  not  in  others— which  benefits  a  few,  at  the  expense  of 
the  many — which  exhausts  the  scanty  means  of  the  poor  man,  by 
taxing  heavily  every  article  he  consumes  ?  Such  is  more  especially 
the  case  under  the  operation  of  the  present  Tariff,  by  which  every 
honest  and  disinterested  man  in  this  great  Republic,  is  grievously 
oppressed.  The  people  are  daily  becoming  more  enlightened  on 
the  doctrines  of  Free  Trade ;  and  the  period  is  rapidly  approaching, 
when  it  will  be  as  dangerous  for  the  Federal  Government  to  attempt 
to  pass  an  unjust  and  oppressive  Tariff  Law,  for  the  protection  of 
manufactures,  as  to  propose  to  establish  Monarchy.  We  seek  not 
authorities  from  the  laws  of  ancient  Rome,  or  of  England,  to  induce 
us  to  approve  of  measures  more  in  character  with  the  Government 
of  a  Roman  Emperor,  or  a  modern  Autocrat,  than  characteristic  of 
the  Republican  reputation  of  the  free,  sovereign,  and  independent, 
States  of  America. 

God  grant  that  the  peace  and  happiness  of  the  people  of  this  Union 
may  yet  be  preserved,  by  an  equitable  spirit  of  compromise — and 
that  recriminations,  and  the  bitterness  of  party  feeling,  may  yield  to 
harmony  and  unanimity ! 

Yours,  &c. 

HERMANN. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,  April  23r/,  1832. 


My  Dear  Sir :  I  wish  most  sincerely  I  could  say,  to  the  re- 
doubtable champions  of  the  Tariff,  in  the  words  of  a  facetious  au- 
thor— 

"  I  come  to  bid  the  hatchet's  labor  cease, 

"And  smoke  with  friends  the  calumet  of  peace !" 

Secure  in  their  own  ideal  strength,  and  lost  to  a  proper  sense  of  fp 
justice  and  reason,  they  have  rejected  all  overtures  of  an  honorable 
compromise  and  accommodation ;  but  the  spirit  they  would  fain  at- 
tempt to  crush  will  no  longer  yield  in  tame  submission  to  the  will  of 
despotism;  with  Herculean  vigor  it  must  be  exerted,  to  rescue 
the  Republic  from  degradation,  and  arrest  the  mad  career  of  a  do- 
mineering majority.  There  should  be  no  wavering,  no  temporizing 
about  the  course  to  be  pursued — much  depends  on  decision  of  char- 
acter. It  is  criminal  to  enact  a  law  which,  by  its  usurous  and  tyran- 
nic operation,  aims  a  mortal  blow  at  the  liberties  of  the  country ;  and, 
as  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  framed  with  the  most 
perfect  regard  to  the  security  of  equal  rights  to  the  people  of  every 
State  of  the  Union,  and  granting  no  advantages  to  any  one  class, 
over  another,  therefore  the  Tariff  Law  of  1828  should  be  considered 
a  flagrant  violation  of  the  Constitution,  and  ought  to  be  abrogated. 
An  enlightened  people  cannot  be  long  cajoled  and  hectored  into  a 
passive  surrender  of  their  dearest  privileges.  The  truth  cannot  be 
concealed,  that  a  spirit  of  faction  and  monopoly  has  gained  a  fearful 
ascendency,  and  has  not  only  diminished  the  hard-earned  wages 
of  the  poor,  but  threatens  to  destroy  the  peace  and  happiness  of 
the  Union.  Must  the  honest  and  unsuspicious  be  sacrificed  to  the 
inordinate  ambition  of  intriguing  politicians  ?  Must  some  millions 
of  people  be  plundered,  for  the  support  of  a  few  hundred  rich  proprie- 
tors of  sugar  plantations  and  iron  works,  and  for  the  protection  of 
wealthy  manufacturers  and  their  partisans.  The  planters  of  the 
South,  the  yeomanry  of  the  North,  the  enterprizing  mariners,  the 
laborers,  blacksmiths,  and  other  industrious  mechanics,  are  all  suf- 
ferers under  this  odious  and  oppressive  system  of  indirect  taxation. 
The  merchants,  too,  unable  to  sustain  the  pressure  of  the  times,  will 
sink  into  poverty  and  obscurity  with  the  gradual  extinction  of  foreign 
commerce.  Give  to  these  men  justice,  and  an  equal  distribution  of 
benefits  rising  from  a  free  and  impartial  administration  of  the  Fede- 
ral Government — they  ask  no  more — and,  when  their  country  is  en- 


dangered  by  a  foreign  foe,  they  will  be  ready  to  pour  out  their  pre- 
cious blood  in  her  defence.  Let  Congress  no  longer  delay  to  re- 
dress their  wrongs,  and  leave  them  to  an  uninterrupted  enjoyment  of 
the  fruits  of  their  labor,  uncontrolled  and  untrammelled,  by  corrupt 
legislation.  From  magnanimity,  patriotism,  benevolence,  much  may 
be  derived  ; 

"  But,  as  for  av'rice,  'tis  the  very  devil, 
'*  The  fount,  alas !  of  every  evil — 

"  The  cancer  of  the  heart,  the  worst  of  ills— 
"  Wherever  sown,  luxuriantly  it  thrives, 
"  No  flow'r  of  virtue  near  it  thrives — 

"  Like  aconite,  where'er  it  spreads  it  kills." 

Avarice  is  certainly  the  ruling  principle  of  the  American  System,  the 
main-spring  of  the  complicated  machine — and,  when  put  in  motion, 
it  involves  all  who  are  unwilling  to  resist  its  powerful  influence,  and 
brings  them  within  the  vortex.  Even  some  of  the  quondam  advo- 
vocates  of  Free  Trade  have  not  escaped.  Such  is  the  mutability  of 
poor  human  nature,  that  it  is  not  always  proof  against  temptation. 
That  enlightened  patriot  and  able  writer  on  political  economy,  Mr. 
Lee,  of  Boston,  has  very  justly  observed,  that  "There  cannot  be  the 
smallest  doubt,  on  the  mind  of  any  impartial  man,  that  it  is  the  set- 
tled determination  of  the  party  we  are  resisting  to  carry  the  existing 
system  up  to  entire  prohibition.  The  question  now  at  issue  (says 
Mr.  Lee)  is  not  only  whether  we  shall  be  relieved  from  our  present 
burdens,  but  whether  we  shall  be  oppressed  with  heavy  additions  to 
them :  for,  if  the  principle  be  established  that  certain  classes  are  en- 
titled to  tax  the  nation  for  the  benefit  of  their  particular  pursuits, 
the  same  privilege  must,  in  common  justice,  be  extended  to  all  who 
may  apply  for  it."  The  writer  has  also  observed — "  The  truth  is, 
the  whole  system  of  taxation  is  maintained  by  a  few  thousand  capi- 
talists and  politicians,  who  exercise  the  same  control  over  the  legis- 
lation of  the  country,  as  is  wielded  over  the  Parliamentary  enact- 
ments of  England  by  a  few  thousand  landholders,  who,  by  means 
of  corn-laws,  tax  the  poor  man's  loaf,  that  they  may  riot  in 
luxury." 

The  soundness  of  these  remarks  cannot  be  denied,  and  every  day 
furnishes  us  with  additional  proofs  of  their  accuracy.  It  now  only 
remains  to  be  clearly  ascertained  whether  Congress,  in  accordance 
with  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Lee,  will  persist  in  adhering  to  the  present 
iniquitous  system  of  protecting  duties.  If  they  do,  the  Southern 
States  will  no  doubt  refuse  to  submit,  and  the  dispute  will  quickly 


29 

be  determined  by  disunion  or  nullification  !  The  Constitution  must 
be  restored  to  its  pristine  purity,  and  guarded  from  future  violation, 
or  the  Union  can  never  be  secure.  It  is  proposed  to  repeal  the  du- 
ties on  figs,  raisins,  currants,  dates,  tamarinds,  capers,  olives,  juni- 
per berries,  nutmegs,  macaroni,  nuts,  and  many  other  trifling  articles 
seldom  sought  after  by  the  major  part  of  the  population  of  the  United 
States.  What  a  liberal  offering  to  the  rich  man,  to  repeal  the  du- 
ties on  the  luxuries  of  his  table!  What  a  wonderful  attempt  at  con- 
ciliation, originating  in  the  combined  efforts  of  the  master  spirits^of 
the  American  System !  But  no  tender  mercies  and  charities  for  the 
poor  !  No  solicitude  for  their  welfare !  They  must  be  compelled  to 
pay  most  exorbitantly  on  woollen  and  cotton  goods,  on  hemp,  iron, 
sugar,  salt,  and  other  most  useful  and  necessary  articles.  A  piece 
of  flannel  which  costs  in  England  10  cents  per  yard,  is  subject  to  a 
duty  of  12  cents, — (or  120  per  centum,) — so  that  the  importation  of 
the  very  article  most  needed  by  the  poor,  to  protect  them  from  the 
inclemency  of  the  weather,  is  almost  prohibited,  that  the  manufac- 
turer may  have  an  immense  profit  on  the  sale  of  his  goods.  If  this 
is  not  cruelty  and  injustice,  I  know  not  what  is.  How  long  is  this 
political  juggle  to  continue?  What  are  the  grand  objects  to  be  at- 
tained ?  Is  it  for  the  purpose  of  gulling  all  who  are  ignorant  of  the 
principles  of  Free  Trade,  that  they  be  the  more  ready  dupes  of  the 
American  System,  and  assist  in  making  a  Tariff  President  ? — or  is  it 
for  the  purpose  of  impoverishing  the  South,  and,  by  reducing  it  to  a 
state  of  vassalage,  render  it  tributary  to  the  Northern  manufacturers? 
I  must  confess  I  am  at  a  loss  to  decide,  without  some  light  cast  upon 
the  subject ;  and,  as  more  secrets  may  have  transpired  from  the  pro- 
ceedings of  those  kind-hearted  and  disinterested  gentlemen  who 
composed  the  Tariff  Convention,  than  plain  unsuspicious  people  are 
aware  of,  I  must  beg,  therefore,  to  be  informed  if  they  have  come  to 
your  knowledge. 

I  am  yours  truly, 

HERMANN. 


30 


PENNSYLVANIA,  June  13th,  1832. 

Dear  Sir :  In  one  of  your  late  numbers  of  the  Banner,  you  have 
clearly  demonstrated  that  what  is  commonly  termed  the  American 
System,  is,  in  fact,  nothing  more  than  a  grand  Pauper  System — 
having  for  the  subject  of  its  operation,  not  the  infant,  the  aged,  the 
infirm,  and  paralytic,  but  a  race  of  sturdy  beggars,  some  of  whom, 
you  have  justly  observed,  "  so  far  from  being  poor,  are  amongst  the 
richest  of  our  citizens."  You  have  happily  illustrated  your  remarks, 
by  bringing  to  our  notice  the  manufacturing  establishments  of  the 
town  of  Lowell,  and  the  Deration  of  protective  duties  on  cotton 
goods,  &-c. — showing,  evidently,  that  Lowell  is  an  alms-house  on  a 
great  scale,  supported  at  the  expense  of  the  people  of  the  whole 
United  States,  precisely  as  the  alms-house  of  Philadelphia  is  sup- 
ported at  the  expense  of  a  local  population.  Numerous  illustrations 
of  this  sort  have  been  happily  introduced  by  you,  to  expose  the  fal- 
lacy of  the  Tariff  and  the  insidious  doctrines  of  the  American 
System.  Your  efforts  have  done  much  to  remove  the  delusion 
which  still  exists,  as  to  the  pretended  benefits  of  the  Tariff.  I  do 
not  flatter  when  I  positively  assert  that  I  am  fully  convinced  that 
the  productions  from  your  pen  have  thrown  more  light  on  the 
subject  which  now  so  greatly  agitates  the  public  mind,  than  all 
the  publications  which  have  issued  from  the  American  press  since 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Go  on,  my  dear  sir,  and  conti- 
nue to  enlighten  your  readers  on  the  principles  of  Free  Trade, 
which  you  cannot  better  elucidate  than  by  the  judicious  mode  you 
have  adopted. 

In  condemning  the  unjust  and  oppressive  system  of  indirect  taxa- 
tion, it  is  very  far  from  my  intention  to  depreciate  mechanic  enter- 
prize,  or  underrate  our  manufactures.  My  opposition  is  directed 
against  fanaticism,  tyranny,  and  unequal  taxation.  Dress  them  up 
in  what  garb  you  please — clothe  these  terms  under  the  specious 
name  of  the  "  American  System,"  the  cloven  foot  shall  appear — the 
monster  must  be  unmasked,  and  his  hideous  features  exposed.  1 
cannot  agree  with  a  learned  and  distinguished  statesman,  that  the 
manufacturing  establishments  are  the  principalities  of  the  destitute, 
and  the  palaces  of  the  poor ! — extravagant  praise  may  sometimes  be 
mistaken  for  burlesque  ;  and  as  the  observation  is  from  an  advocate 
of  protective  duties  and  a  high  Tariff,  some  allowance  may  be  made. 
How  does  the  assertion  correspond  with  the  accounts  furnished  by 


31 

those  candid  and  independent  Editors  oi'  the  Eastern  Argus,  and 
the  New  England  Artizan  1  their  description  of  the  sufferings  of  the 
poor  operatives  is  sufficient  to  make  the  heart  shudder.  The  Ger- 
mans say,  "  die  zeit  bringt  rosen" — (time  brings  roses ;)  but,  alas ! 
to  these  poor  people,  I  fear  it  will  bring  nothing  but  thorns.  The 
Editor  of  the  Argus  remarks  of  the  manufacturers,  "  they  possess 
an  almost  unlimited  control  over  the  means  of  daily  subsistence  of 
a  large  part  of  those  employed — a  control,  it  is  well  known,  that 
has  been  prostituted  to  sectarian  and  party  purposes.  He  adds, 
"  what  must  be  the  effect  of  confining  children  of  a  tender  age  with- 
in the  walls  of  Factories,  in  a  heated  and  poisonous  atmosphere, 
from  twelve  to  eighteen  hours  per  day"f"-and  yet,  these  are  signifi- 
cantly called  "  the  palaces  of  the  poorr  The  Editor  of  the  New 
England  Artizan  has  produced  cases  of  great  enormity,  one  in  par- 
ticular of  a  poor  unfortunate  deaf  and  dumb  boy  being  most  cru- 
elly beaten  by  his  tyrant  until  he  was  unable  to  stand — of  females 
most  shamefully  and  brutally  punished.  He  declares,  "  that  he  can 
name  (if  required)  one  hundred  instances  of  corporeal  punishment 
which  have  occurred  within  two  miles  of  his  office" — and,  if  neces- 
sary, he  can  fill  two  columns  of  his  paper  per  week,  for  two  months, 
with  details  of  barbarities  committed  in  the  manufactories.  God 
forbid  that  these  should  be  considered  as  "the  palaces  of  the  poor," 
or  form  any  part  of  what  is  called  "  the  settled  policy  of  the  North!" 
If  these  flagitious  acts  are  tolerated  at  this  time,  what  will  be  the 
situation  of  the  United  States  in  less  than  half  a  century?  "  The 
million  of  bayonets,"  with  which  the  friends  of  Free  Trade  and  the 
rights  of  the  poor  are  now  threatened,  will,  probably,  be  required  to 
enforce  the  mandates  of  remorseless  tyranny,  and  to  make  victims 
of  the  unhappy  people — who,  like  the  hard-working  poor  of  Europe, 
often  seek  bread  and  scanty  wages,  but  are  scoffed  and  repulsed  with 
the  bayonet.  Those  who  worship  mammon  have  no  tender  mercies 
for  the  poor  ;  little  do  they  care  about  providing  for  their  wants, 
when  on  the  bed  of  sickness — or  rescuing  orphans  from  poverty  and 
vice,  and  improving  their  morals.  Avarice  smothers  the  best  feel- 
ings of  the  human  heart,  and  is  the  ruling  passion  of  monopolists. 
The  title  of  the  Holy  Alliance  has  been  given  (in  derision,  I  sup- 
pose,) to  those  large  capitalists  and  wealthy  iron  masters  who  com- 
posed the  Harrisburg  Convention  ;  and  having  there  matured  their 
plans,  and  formed  the  league,  left  it  to  their  friends  in  Congress, 
to  pass  the  "  Bill  of  Abominations"  in  1828,  for  their  protection , 
and  called  in,  or  bought  the  aid  of,  hireling  presses  to  support  it. 


*  4,  32 

It  has  been  said,  that  these  proceedings  at  Ilarrisburg  were  some- 
what analogous  to  the  measures  of  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  who 
met  for  the  better  security  of  the  Kings  of  Europe ;  and,  instead  of 
granting  the  brave  Germans  the  free  institutions  promised  them  for 
the  blood  and  treasure  lavished  in  the  war  against  France,  they 
considered  it  of  infinitely  more  importance  to  consult  the  views  of 
the  "  Holy  Alliance,"  and  enlisted  into  their  service  all  the  sordid 
and  servile  writers  they  could  find,  to  support  the  doctrine  that  the 
Sovereigns  were  bound  to  each  other,  and  under  no  obligation  to 
grant  free  Constitutions  to  their  subjects.  A  certain  literary  cha- 
racter of  Gottingen  published  a  book  in  defence  of  this  creed,  which 
the  students  of  that  University  (always  distinguished  for  a  high 
sense  of  honor  and  republican  spirit,)  "  reviewed  by  affixing  a  copy 
to  the  whipping  post ;  then,  marching  to  the  author's  house,  hailed 
him  with  a  thrice  repeated  percat!"*  If  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  is  sincerely  desirous  of  promoting  the  general  welfare  of  the 
American  People,  they  should  not  hesitate  to  adopt  such  a  bill  as 
Mr.  McDuffie's.  What  do  we  want  with  a  revenue  beyond  what  is 
required  to  answer  the  exigencies  of  the  nation  ?  why  heap  burdens 
on  the  people  to  foster  manufactures  1  why  repeal  the  duties  on  lux- 
uries, and  impose  a  heavy  tax  on  the  necessaries  of  life  ?  We  re- 
sisted a  paltry  tea  tax  and  stamp  act  of  the  royal  government,  and 
must  we  submit,  after  the  payment  of  the  National  Debt,  to  be 
trampled  upon  by  a  despotism  of  monied  aristocracy  ?  Mr.  McDuf- 
fie's Bill  is  moderate  and  just,  and  so  simplified  as  to  be  understood 
by  every  citizen  who  can  read.  It  is  free  from  those  petty  and  vex- 
atious imposts  and  extortions  which  harass  the  merchant,  and  dis- 
tress both  producers  and  consumers. 

The  moral  turpitude,  so  inseparable  from  an  onerous  system  of 
indirect  taxation,  is  no  where  to  be  found  in  the  bill  of  that  illus- 
trious champion  of  Free  Trade,  and  who  labors  to  restore  the  Con- 
stitution to  its  pristine  purity.  What  can  be  more  equitable  than 
his  proposition  to  reduce  the  duties  to  twenty-five  per  centum  ad 
valorem  on  all  iron  and  steel,  salt,  sugar,  cotton  bagging,  hemp, 
flax,  and  manufactures  of  iron,  cotton,  and  wool  imported  into  the 
United  States,  from  the  30th  of  June,  and  making  a  gradual  reduc- 
tion to  eighteen  and  three  quarters  per  centum,  to  take  effect  from 
and  after  the  30th  of  June,  1833  ;  and  after  the  30th  of  June,  1834, 
to  be  brought  down  to  twelve  and  a  half  per  cent,  ad  valorem ; — 

Russell's  Tour  in  Germain 


33 

and  l'urfln-1,  that  all  other  iu<  rchaiitli.se  imported  into  t!uj  United 
States  shall  be  subject  to  twelve  and  a  half  per  cent,  ad  valorem, 
from  the  30th  of  June,  except  such  articles  as  are  now  imported 
free  of  duty,  or  at  a  lower  rate  of  ad  valorem  duty  than  twelve  and 
a  half  per  cent. 

"  Be  just  and  fear  not — let  all  the  ends  thou  aimest  at  be  thy 
God's,  thy  Country's,  and  Truth's."  The  champions  of  State  Rights 
and  Free  Trade  will  obey  these  precepts  ;  they  have  proclaimed 
their  devotion  to  measures,  and  disclaim  all  servile  attachment  to 
men.  Theirs  is  a  righteous  cause — one  for  which  Patrick  Henry 
plead,  a  Washington  fought,  and  a  Montgomery  bled.  We  have, 
been  sneeringly  told,  that  the  Tariff  of  1828  is  the  settled  policy 
of  the  North.  I  should  rather  call  it  the  political  pander  which 
prostitutes  the  morals  and  interests  of  the  American  People.  To 
enforce  this  iniquitous  policy,  Freemen  have  been  threatened  with 
an  appeal  to  the  sword  and  the  bayonet,  by  the  hectoring  champions 
of  the  loom  and  spinning-jenneys.  What  a  silly  gasconade !  which 
cannot  even  make  an  impression  upon  our  women  and  children  ; 
added  to  all  this,  the  foul  tongue  of  slander  is  let  loose  against  the 
patriots  of  the  land,  and  the  hoary-headed  veteran  of  the  Revolution 
is  not  spared  from  abuse,  for  reminding  his  countrymen,  that  they 
passively  submit  to  be  taxed  more  than  tenfold  the  amount  which 
was  imposed  by  the  British  Government,  and  which  was  so  nobly 
and  successfully  resisted  by  the  old  thirteen  United  States.  Those 
gallant  sons  of  the  North,  who  are  not  chained  to  the  car  of  despot- 
ism, will  never  submit  to  the  chastening  rod  of  their  oppressors ; 
they  are  not  insensible  to  their  own  wrongs,  and  know  how  to 
sympathize  with  their  suffering  brethren  of  the  South ;  they  need 
no  appeal  to  their  generous  feelings,  to  aid  them  in  shaking  off  the 
bondage  of  the  Restrictive  System.  I  do  not  despair  of  the  Repub- 
lic !  I  cannot  be  persuaded  that  this  Union,  cemented  by  the  best 
blood  of  our  Revolutionary  patriots,  will  be  sacrificed  to  a  vile  and 
factious  spirit  of  monopoly  and  avarice. 

The  cause  of  Free  Trade  is  the  cause  of  God  and  nature — of  equal 
rights  and  the  poor — of  freedom  against  taxation  and  tyranny — of 
civilization  against  barbarism — and  must  be  sustained. 

HERMANN. 


ERRATA. 

Tfye,  first  of llie. foregoing-  heUors  should  have  been  dated  from  Philadelphi 
instead;  of -South  Carolina. 

In.  page  5,  line  8  from,!!)-?  bolf.nm,  after  the  word  "  halm,"  1o  should  1. 
substituted  for. "  in." 

Jn  page .97,  lino  15,  i:  u^urous"  should  be  usurious. 


LETTER 


FROM 


HERMANN, 


TO 


«;0*DY  RAGUET,   Esq. 


CHARLESTON  : 

PRINTED    BY    E.    J.     VAN    BRUETT, 

No.  121,  East-Bay. 


Sir  : 

SINCE  I  last  had  the  pleasure  of  addressing  you,  far  more  auspicious 
times  I  trust  are  likely  to  dawn  on  the  destinies  of  our  country  than  could 
have  been  reasonably  predicted  from  the  gloomy  and  unpromising  aspect 
of  affairs.  Six  months  ago,  the  rash  career  of  the  champions  of 
the  Tariff  was  rapidly  hurrying  our  liberties  to  the  grave ,  but  thanks  to 
kind  Providence  !  that  dreaded  event  has  been  averted  by  the  returning 
sense  of  justice,  which  influenced  the  minds  of  Statesmen ;  who  in  sacri- 
ficing their  prejudices  on  the  altar  of  concord,  to  preserve  the  peace  of 
the  Union,  have  not  only  exhibited  wisdom  and  true  greatness,  but  have 
gained  a  triumph  which  has  rendered  their  fame  imperishable,  and  will 
transmit  to  posterity  their  virtues  for  imitation.  What  a  contrast  with 
the  sordid  and  grovelling  spirit  that  would  do  homage  to  Mammon,  and 
offer  up  to  Moloch  a  magnanimous  people,  (struggling  to  maintain  their 
rights,)  as  victims  to  foul  ambition,  and  a  lust  of  power.  The  present 
prospect  is  certainly  cheering,  compared  with  the  retrospective  view  of 
our  late  position,  which  could  not  have  been  surveyed  without  exciting 
mingled  emotions  of  disgust  and  indignation  at  the  repeated  encroach- 
ments made  by  the  friends  of  despotism  and  consolidated  Government, 
upon  the  lights  of  the  citizen.  The  Tariff  of  1828 — the  offspring  of 
combined  plot  and  corruption — the  Idol  of  visionary  Politicians  and  selfish 
speculators,  was  held  out  as  a  lure  to  wealth,  for  such  persons,  who 
were  willing  to  embark  in,  the  schemes  of  the  monopolists ;  and  rich  spoils 
were  promised  to  their  partisans,  each  of  whom  was  led  to  imagine  he 
possessed  a  power  equal  to  Midas.  The  plan,  too,  of  freely  drawing 
money  from  the  Public  Treasury  for  sectional  purposes,  and  to  further  their 
mercenary  views,  was  secured  by  Legislative  sanction,  and  under  the 
specious  title  of  the  "  American  System ;"  they  determined  it  should  be 
considered  as  the  settled  policy  of  the  country,  and  arrogated  the  right  of 
calling  it  so.  It  is  the  settled  policy  of  the  Government  of  an  absolute  mo- 
narchy to  enforce  the  edict  of  a  Tyrant  by  the  sword  and  bayonet  against 
his  oppressed  subjects,  and  impiously  to  declare  it  only  inferior  to  the  Fiat 
of  Heaven.  It  is  the  settled  policy  of  a  Turkish  Divan  to  inflict  the  bow- 
string on  mere  suspicion,  or  by  false  accusations,  to  dispossess  some  un- 


happy  victim  of  his  life  and  property.  I  thank  God,  however,  that  the 
free,  sovereign  and  independent  States  of  this  great  Federal  Republic  are 
composed  of  a  population,  of  which,  the  majority  are  too  enlightened 
ever  to  submit  to  be  made  the  instruments  of  the  niyrmydons  of  power, 
and  to  be  rendered  subservient  to  the  will  of  a  faction.  They  will  I  trust, 
never  consent  to  perpetuate  their  own  infamy,  by  assisting  to  degrade  the 
character  of  the  country,  which  it  is  their  pride  and  ambition  to  exalt  and 
protect. 

In  the  late  contest  with  the  General  Government,  for  the  repeal  of  the 
odious  Tariff,  the  Southern  States  endured  with  a  patience  and  forbear- 
ance almost  unprecedented  in  the  annals  of  the  history  of  Republics, 
evils  which  were  gradually  annihilating  their  agriculture  and  commerce, 
exhausting  their  resources,  and  compelling  them  to  be  tributary  to  the 
North.  South-Corolina,  in  particular,  after  more  than  ten  years  of  re- 
monstrance and  unavailing  petitions,  was  spurned  by  that  very  arm  which 
should  have  been  raised  for  her  protection — after  finding  every  avenue  to 
relief  closed  against  her,  she  at  length  assumed  an  attitude  worthy  of  the 
days  of  ancient  Greece,  confiding  in  the  rectitude  of  her  cause, 
and  under  the  protection  of  a  merciful  Providence,  she  called  on  her  gal- 
lant sons  to  rescue  themselves  from  a  most  humiliating  thraldom,  and  the 
same  spirit  which  inspired  their  ancestors  in  the  days  of  the  Revolution 
with  undaunted  courage  and  led  them  to  victory,  now  protected  the  Pal- 
metto Banner,  with  more  than  twenty  thousand  brave  volunteers,  who 
faithful  to  the  State,  were  prepared  to  peril  their  lives  and  property  in  her 
defence.  When  the  new  "  Bill  of  Abominations"  was  enacted  in  1832, 
by  both  Houses  of  Congress,  and  all  prospect  of  redress  became  despe- 
rate, did  she  seek  to  dissolve  the  Union,  or  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
community  by  violence  and  anarchy  1  The  people  of  South-Carolina  dis- 
dained so  disgraceful  a  course,  for  their  cause  was  too  sacred  to  be  thus 
dishonored — they  conceived  it  to  be  due  to  their  dignity  to  proceed,  "  con- 
silio  et  animis"  and  having  in  their  sovereign  capacity  by  their  Delegates 
in  Convention,  solemnly  declared  the  Tariff  laws  of  1828  and  1832,  null 
and  void  within  the  limits  of  the  State,  they  resolved  to  defend  their  liber- 
ties against  Federal  usurpation  and  aggression,  at  any  and  every  hazard. 
Nothing  daunted  by  the  ill  judged  menaces  of  the  Federal  Executive, 
our  little  Sparta  moved  on  in  the  even  tenor  of  her  course — scorning 
the  vindictive  and  slanderous  abuse  of  her  political  enemies — unmoved 
by  their  pitiful  arts  to  intimidate  her,  she  steadily  pursued  the  path  of  truth 
and  honor.  I  will  not  soil  my  paper  by  repeating  the  opprobrious  lan- 
guage which  issued  against  her  from  a  variety  of  the  most  impure  chan- 
nels. In  short,  nothing  could  exceed  the  venom  of  malignant  tongues — 
no  words  were  deemed  too  caustic,  or  too  gross  with  which  to  assail  the 
Friends  of  "  State  Rights  and  Free  Trade  ;"  they  produced  no  discord  in 
our  ranks,  but  on  the  contrary  served  to  unite  us  more  closely,  and  exci- 
ted only  contempt  and  derision.  I  do  not  address  you  with  the  intention 
of  acting  as  the  encomiast  of  our  party;  we  leave  it  to  posterity  to  judge  of 
our  conduct,  and  to  determine  if  we  have  not  been  actuated  by  the  purest 
motives  of  patriotism :  time  will  prove  how  shamefully  we  have  been  ca- 


lumniated,  and  that  our  enemies  have  falsely  arraigned  us  for  error  of 
judgement,  and  unjustly  imputed  to  us  a  design  to  withdraw  from  the  Union. 
From  the  commencement  to  the  termination  of  our  contest  with  the  Fed- 
eral Government,  South-Carolina  was  distinguished  for  moderation,  pru- 
dence and  firmness.     She  never  demanded  more  than  could  be  sanction- 
ed by  the  laws  of  God  and  nature.     Congress  denied  her  justice.     The 
Federal  Court  had  no  right  to  take  cognizance  of  political  questions,  and 
two-thirds  of  the  States  of  the  Union  being  in  favor  of  the  Tariff,  we 
could  have  no  expectation  of  redress  from  a  General  Convention.     How 
then  was  she  to  act  1  rather  than  ignobly  succumb  any  longer  to  the  will 
of  a  reckless  majority,  she  had  recourse  to  her  reserved  rights,  granted 
under  the  tenth  article  of  the  amendments  to  the  Constitution,  which  ex- 
pressly declares,  "  The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States,  by  the 
Constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  re- 
spectively, or  to  the  people."     Extreme  cases  often  require  powerful  and 
desperate  remedies,  which  ought  not  be  used,  except  when  there  is  a  hope 
of  success.     In  the  situation  of  South- Carolina,  Nullification  proved  most 
efficacious,  and  a  complete  preventive  against  Revolution  or  Secession. 
She  desired  a  peaceful  adjustment  of  her  differences  with  the  General 
Government — it  was  folly  to  doubt  her  attachment  to  the  Union — the  in- 
tegrity of  which  she  had  lavished  her  best  blood  and  treasure  in  two  wars, 
to  preserve  under  the  most  arduous  circumstances.     She  had  never  mur- 
mured or  quailed,  trusting  to  her  own  moral  and  physical  resources,  she 
never  calculated  the  cost  when  called  on  by  her  sister  States  to  unite  with 
them  for  the  general  safety.     She  engaged  in  the  Revolutionary  struggle 
from  principle — no  State  had  so  little  reason  to  complain  of  oppression 
while  a  colony.     She  was  cherished  as  a  favorite  child  by  the  mother 
country;  but  I  will  not  dwell  on  this  subject  or  vaunt  of  her  good  deeds,  for 
which  she  has  been  so  greatly  distinguished,  and  poorly  requited.    Her  en- 
emies dare  not  refuse  to  acknowledge  that  but  for  the  measures  adopted  by 
the  Convention  no  modification  of  the  Tariff  would  have  been  made  by  Con- 
gress, and  without  them  the  monopolists  would  still  have  cause  to  exult.   It 
is  a  just  remark  of  a  highly  estimable  and  distinguished  Virginian,  that  "cu- 
pidity was  never  yet  known  to  let  go  its  hold,  without  being  compelled  by 
some  threatening  evil."  Such  has  been  the  unyielding  and  rancorous  spirit 
of  our  opponents  that  they  contumaciously  persist  in  denying  to  a  State  the 
right  of  seceding  from  the  Union ;  warmly  espousing  the  doctrine  of  con- 
solidation, they  endeavor  to  sustain  it  by  the  most  flimsy  and  fallacious 
argument,  contending  that  the  Federal  Government  is  sovereign,  that  the 
Union  is  a  nation;  not  in  the  common  acceptation  of  the  term,  but  "  bona 
fide"  a  nation  under  a  consolidated   Government,   claiming  unlimited 
powers,  and  arrogantly  disclaiming  all  right  on  the  part  of  a  State  to  be 
sovereign  and  independent,  or  the  people  judges  of  what  should  constitute 
their  sovereignty,  as  derived  from  the  Constitution.     It  is  reduced  to  an 
axiom  that  he  who  enters  voluntarily  into  a  compact,  has  the  undoubted 
right  of  withdrawing  when  by  a  violation  of  it  he  is  aggrieved  by  an  at- 
tempt  to  practise  imposition  and  deprive  him  of  certain  privileges  which 
by  the  conditions  of  that  compact  he  was  entitled  to  enjoy.     Can  it  be 


supposed  that  a  free,  sovereign  and  indpendent  State  should  be  bound 
against  her  will  to  continue  a  member  of  a  Confederacy  when  the  princi- 
ples on  which  it  is  based  are  infringed,  and  she  is  thereby  left  to  the  mercy 
and  misrule  of  the  dominant  party.  There  are  certain  civil  and  natural 
rights  appertaining  to  the  people  of  every  free  State,  which  are  undefeasi- 
ble  and  unalienable,  of  which  no  earthly  power  can  divest  them,  but 
treachery  and  force.  The  sovereign  right  is  inherent,  originating  with 
the  people  of  the  States,  forming  one  great  confederated  Republic,  united 
by  the  most  sacred  ties  of  amity,  interest  and  kindred  blood  ;  and  if 
these  should  fail  to  preserve  the  Union — compulsion  never  can.  The 
doctrines  of  State  sovereignty,  State  interposition,  and  the  right  of  seces- 
sion are  now  daily  becoming  better  understood,  by  the  people  and  by  no 
Statesman,  have  they  been  more  clearly  and  satisfactorily  defined  than 
by  Mr.  CALHOUN;  hie  reasoning  on  these  interesting  subjects  has 
been  so  lucid — so  truly  worthy  of  his  great  and  capacious  mind — so  per- 
fectly intelligible  and  convincing,  that  he  who  does  not  comprehend  it, 
must  indeed,  be  unfortunately  dull.  Mr.  CALHOUN'S  arguments  have  been 
termed  by  a  member  of  the  Senate  metaphysical,  this  appears  somewhat 
quaint,  perhaps  ethical  might  have  been  applied  with  more  propriety.  Mr. 
CALHOUN'S  remarks  and  reply,  are  so  beautifully  characteristic  of  his 
fine  intellect,  that  I  must  be  excused  for  introducing  them  here,  in  an 
extract  from  his  speech,  on  what  is  called,  "  the  Revenue  Collection 
Bill"— 

*'The  terms  Union,  Federal,  united,  imply  a  combination  of  sovereign- 
ties, a  confederation  of  States.  They  are  never  applied  to  an  associa- 
tion of  individuals.  Who  ever  heard  of  the  United  State  of  New-York, 
of  Massachusetts,  or  of  Virginia  1  Who  ever  heard  the  term  Federal,  or 
Union,  applied  to  the  aggregation  of  individuals  into  one  community  ] 
Nor  is  the  other  point  less  clear — that  the  sovereignty  is  in  the  several 
States,  and  that  our  system  is  a  Union  of  twenty-four  sovereign  powers, 
under  a  constitutional  compact,  and  not  of  a  divided  sovereignty  between 
the  States  severally  and  the  United  States.  In  spite  of  all  that  has  been 
said,  he  maintained  that  sovereignty  is,  in  its  nature,  indivisible.  It  is  the 
supreme  power  in  a  State,  and  we  might  just  as  well  speak  of  half  a  square, 
or  half  of  a  triangle,  as  of  half  a  sovereignty.  It  is  a  gross  error  to  confound 
the  exercise  of  sovereign  powers  with  sovereignty  itself,  or  the  delegation  of 
such  powers  with  a  surrender  of  them.  A  sovereign  may  delegate  his 
powers  to  be  exercised  by  as  many  agents,  as  he  may  think  proper,  under 
such  conditions  and  with  such  limitation  as  he  may  impose  ;  but  to  sur- 
render any  portion  of  his  sovereignty  to  another  is  to  annihilate  the  whole. 
The  Senator  from  Delaware  (Mr.  Clayton)  calls  this  metaphysical  rea- 
soning, which,  he  says,  he  cannot  comprehend.  If  by  metaphysics  he 
means  that  scholastic  refinement  which  makes  distinctions  without  diffe- 
rence, no  one  can  hold  it  in  more  utter  contempt  than  he,  (Mr.  C.,)  but, 
if  on  the  contrary,  he  means  the  power  of  analysis  and  combination — 
that  power  which  reduces  the  most  complex  idea  into  its  elements,  which 
traces  causes  to  their  first  principle,  and,  by  the  power  of  generalisation 
and  combination,  unites  the  whole  in  one  harmonious  system  ;  then,  so 


far  from  deserving  contempt,  it  is  the  highest  attribute  of  the  human 
mind.  It  is  the  power  which  raises  man  above  the  brute — which  distin- 
guishes his  faculties  from  mere  sagacity,  which  he  holds  in  common  with 
inferior  animals.  It  is  this  power  which  has  raised  the  astronomer  from 
being  a  mere  gazer  at  the  stars,  to  the  high  intellectual  eminence  of  a 
Newton  or  Laplace ;  and  astronomy  itself  from  a  mere  observation  of 
insulated  facts  into  the  noble  science  which  displays  to  our  admiration 
the  system  of  the  universe.  And  shall  this  high  power  of  the  mind,  which 
has  effected  such  wonders,  when  directed  to  the  laws  which  control  the 
material  world,  be  forever  prohibited,  under  a  senseless  cry  of  mataphy- 
sics,  from  being  applied  to  the  high  purpose  of  political  science  and  legis- 
lation 1  He  held  them  to  be  subject  to  laws  as  fixed  as  matter  itself,  and 
to  be  as  fit  a  subject  for  the  application  of  the  highest  intellectual  power. 
Denunciation  may  indeed  fall  upon  the  philosophical  enquirer  into  these 
first  principles,  as  it  did  upon  Galileo  and  Bacon,  when  they  first  unfolded 
the  great  discoveries,  which  have  immortalized  their  names ;  but  the  time 
will  come  when  truth  will  prevail  in  spite  of  prejudice  and  denunciation ; 
and  when  politics  and  legislation  will  be  considered  as  much  a  science  as 
astronomy  and  chemistry." 

So  long  as  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  administered  on  the 
true  spirit  and  principles  of  the  Constitution,  the  liberties  of  the  people 
are  safe,  but  if  regardless  of  that  good  faith  which  should  be  observed  to 
all  men,  the  Government  is  guilty  of  partiality  in  bestowing  exclusive  pro- 
tection to  favored  classes,  encouraging  monopolies,  raising  up  a  monied 
aristocracy,  attempting  to  break  up  the  usages  of  civilized  society,  by  de- 
stroying all  confidence  between  man  and  man,  and  by  unjust  and  uncon- 
stitutional laws,  oppressing  the  poor  to  benefit  the  rich,  then  it  is  not  only 
justifiable,  but  it  is  the  imperative  duty  of  the  people,  of  a  free  sovereign 
and  independent  State,  to  interpose  their  authority,  and  to  declare  all 
such  acts  as  violate  their  rights,  null  and  void  within  the  limits  of  the  said 
State.  Cheered  and  supported  under  all  difficulties  by  a  consciousness  of 
the  rectitude  of  their  course,  and  seeking  no  favors  from  men,  but  adhe- 
ring rigidly  to  virtuous  principles,  the  Friends  of  State  Rights  and  Free 
Trade  in  South-Carolina,  have  clung  to  the  Constitution  as  to  the  ark  of 
their  political  salvation,  and  it  was  only  in  the  last  extremity,  when  op- 
pressed by  the  Federal  Government,  that  they  were  compelled  to  seek 
redress  by  means  of  Nullification,  a  term  now  in  common  use,  too  fre- 
quently perverted  and  most  reviled  when  least  understood :  held  up  (if  I 
may  be  permitted  so  to  express  myself,)  by  the  advocates  of  consolida- 
tion as  a  political  "  Scarecrow  or  Bugbear"  to  deter  the  wavering  and 
timid  from  openly  siding  with  the  injured  party.  By  some  it  has  been 
compared  to  an  Ignis-Fatuus,  beguiling  its  followers  ;  and  by  others,  de- 
nounced as  a  political  heresy.  The  doctrine,  however,  has  proved  too 
orthodox,  for  its  enemies,  and  their  Ignis-Fatuus,  has  passed  into  a  sacred 
flame,  that  neither  tyranny  or  injustice  can  extinguish. 

In  my  next,  I  propose  to  enter  more  particularly  into  the  subject  of 
State  Rights,  and  although  I  cannot  flatter  myself  with  the  hope  of  mak- 
ing any  new  suggestions  or  useful  remarks,  yet  I  shall  at  least  have  the 


8 

consolation  of  knowing,  that  my  humble  efforts  have  heen  contributed  to 
elicit  truth  by  keeping  alive  a  spirit  of  research,  without  which,  even  the 
best  cause  may  languish,  and  be  irretrieavably  lost.  Remember  that  our 
victory  is  not  complete,  and  that  much  remains  to  be  accomplished.  In 
politics  as  in  religion,  there  are  many  valuable  lessons  by  which  we  may 
profit,  and  as  applicable  to  our  political  situation,  there  is  no  better  scrip- 
tural warning,  than  this  :  "  He  that  keepeth  Israel  shall  neither  slumber 
nor  sleep."  Let  us  watch  then  with  an  eagle  eye,  the  movements  of  our 
adversaries,  and  suffer  them  not  to  lull  us  into  a  false  security.  Permit 
me  to  express  my  sincere  regret,  that  you  have  found  it  necessary  to  re- 
linquish the  publication  of  the  Banner  of  the  Constitution,  and  have  no 
intention  of  resuming  it  at  a  future  period.  The  zeal  and  great  abil- 
ity with  which  you  sustained  that  valuable  paper,  richly  entitles  you  to 
the  gratitude  of  every  true  Friend  of  State  Rights  and  Free  Trade.  The 
sound  editorial  remarks  with  which  it  always  abounded,  rendered  it  a 
most  excellent  practical  work  on  political  economy.  I  hope  that  pecu- 
niary considerations  did  not  induce  you  to  abandon  it,  or  that  want  of 
punctuality  on  the  part  of  your  subscribers,  has  led  to  it ;  if  so,  I  shall 
never  cease  to  lament  the  cause,  knowing  that  you  must  have  necessarily 
incurred  considerable  expense. 

With  great  respect,  I  remain  yours, 


SECOND  LETTER 


FROM 


HERMANN, 


TO 


COADY  RAGUET,   Esq. 


CHARLESTON 

IRIHTED    BY    K.    J.    VAN 

KQ.  121,  East-Bay. 


Hear  Sir  : 

IN  my  last  communication,  I  made  some  general  remarks  on  the  late 
contest  between  the  State  of  South-Carolina  and  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, relative  to  the  unconstitutionally  and  injustice  of  the  Tariff  acts, 
and  justified  the  people  of  Carolina,  for  having  availed  themselves  of  their 
reserved  rights  to  resist  what  might  well  he  considered  an  usurpation  of 
power  exercised  by  Congress  for  the  protection  of  manufactures,  thereby 
impoverishing  the  great  agricultural  States  of  the  South,  and  rendering 
them  in  some  degree  tributary  to  the  North,  also  laying  the  foundation  of 
invidious  distinctions  between  the  various  sections  of  the  Union,  striking 
at  the  root  of  our  Republican  institutions,  and  reducing  us  to  a  state  of 
colonial  vassalage  infinitely  more  degrading  than  when  we  were  subject 
to  the  dominion  of  the  Royal  Government,  and  far  different  from  those 
days  of  prosperity  which  existed  under  the  administration  ot  WASHING- 
TON and  JEFFERSON. 

I  will  endeavor  to  demonstrate  how  egregiously  mistaken  the  Friends 
of  consolidation  have  been  on  the  subject  of  State  Rights,  which  I  can 
only  attribute  to  the  confined  and  distorted  view  they  have  taken  of  it, 
through  the  combined  influence  of  ignorance  and  prejudice,  to  raise  up 
an  intolerant  and  corrupt  spirit  of  monied  aristocracy,  the  very  bane  of 
social  life,  and  to  be  dreaded  as  a  most  dire  calamity.  Time  has  developed 
the  real  objects  of  the  champions  of  a  protective  Tariff,  and  has  discover- 
ed that  very  little  labour  and  ingenuity  was  required  to  unravel  the  web 
of  their  political  heresy,  or  to  detect  the  sophistry  of  their  fine  spun 
theory  of  consolidation,  with  all'  its  attendant  evils.  Those  gentlemen 
who  may  have  acquired  lessons  on  Government  at  the  courts  of  Europe, 
have  not  been  without  apt  scholars  in  the  United  States.  Plain  Republi- 
cans, and  men  of  common  sense  and  moderate  ambition,  are  satisfied 
with  our  present  form  of  Government,  which  needs  no  overstrained  efforts 
to  alter  and  assimilate  it  to  the  aristocratic  Governments  of  the  old  world. 
Our  Constitution  was  framed  upon  the  best  and  most  liberal  plan  which  hu- 
man wisdom  could  devise.  It  may  be  be  compared  to  a  beautiful  f.i brick 
reared  by  the  joint  labour  of  the  most  able  and  skilful  master  workmen 
the  world  has  produced.  The  Constitution  has  been  with  propriety 
called  a  social  compact,  made  by  the  consent  of  the  people  of  each  of 
the  thirteen  United  States  for  the  general  welfare.  It  has  been  justly 
remarked  by  an  able  writer,  "that  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
can  claim  no  powers  which  are  not  granted  to  it  by  the  Constitution, 
either  expressly  or  by  necessary  implication" — he  adds,  "  that  the  words 
of  the  Constitution  are  to  be  taken  in  their  natural  sense  without  restric- 
tion or  enlargement."  The  fact  is,  the  words  of  the  Constitution  are  so 
explicit,  they  leave  no  room.  for.  cavilling ;  the  powers  of  the  General  Go- 
vernment are  clearly  defined^  and  no  law  can  be -considered  valid  that  is 
not  only  based  on  the  spirit,  but  on  the  plain  and  literal  sense  of  the 
words  which  cannot  be  misinterpreted,  unless  with  the  design  of  mislead- 
ing. What  higher  authority  can  I  quote  than  that  of  our  estimable 


11 

"Fe^ow-citizen,   Mr.  RAWLE,  whose  profound  legal  knowledge,  no 
can 'doubt.     In  his  admirable  work  entitled,  "a  view  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States"  he  remarks,  "  The  powers  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment are  few  and  defined,  those  which  remain  to  the  State  Government 
numerous  and  indefinite.,'     In  another  part  of  his  Book  he  says,  "  In  all 
nrtters  not  transferred  to  the  General  Government,  the  rights  and  inter- 
ests of  the  people  are  confided  to  the  care  of  the  State  Governments,  and 
an  anxiety  to  secure  and  defend  them,  has  been  uniforn-ly  apparent  in  all 
the  Stages."     The  people  cannot  be  too  jealous  of  the  disposition  of  an 
arbitrary  majority  of  Congress  to  trespass  on  their  rights.  The  danger  of 
investing  the  executive  with  powers  not  authorized  by  the  Constitution  is 
to  be  apprehended,  and  should  be  by  all  possible  means  guarded  against 
by  the  vigilance  and  determined  opposition  of  the  people.     In  treating  of 
the  Executive  p  wer,  Mr.  RAWLE  observes,  "Limited  and  restrained  as 
the  President  is,  creature  of  the  people,  and  subject  to  the  law  with  all 
power  to  do  right,  he  possesses  none  to  do  wrong."     This  is  true,  provid- 
ed he  is  controlled  by  the  strong  arm  of  the  supremejaw  of  the  land,  and 
not  suffered  to  transcend  the  powers  prescribed  by  it.     When  men,  who 
are  dejegated  by  the  people  to  legislate  for  the  protection  of  their  rights, 
abuse  the  trust  reposed  in  them  by  giving  to  the  Chief  Magistrate  the 
power  of  exercising  military  despotism  at  his  discretion,  they  are  no  lon- 
ger worthy  of  the  confidence  of  their  fellow-citizens.     Man  is  naturally 
fond  of  power,  all  his  ambitious  feelings  have  a  tendency  towards  it, 
his  actions  should  be  restrained  by  wise  laws,  and  he  cannot  always  be 
confided  in  when  brought  to  encounter  difficulties,  for  with  all  his  moral 
worth  he  is  not  infallible.     He  who  deserves  to  be  truly  great,  must 
learn  to  have  his  passions  under  complete  command,  and  none  are  so 
despicable  as  those  who  are  guided  more  by  caprice,  interest  and  malevo- 
lence, than  by  a  sense  of  justice.     Nothing  is  more  common  than  for 
men  to  condemn  principles  which  do  not  meet  their  views  and  projects  of 
self  aggrandizement — hence  arises  the  virulence  of  the  Tariffites  against 
the  Friends  of  Free  Trade.     We  must  mnke  great  allowance  for  diversity 
of  sentiments  among  disinterested  men  ;  but  I  feel  indignant  when  I  am 
told  of  Statesmen  (who  having  filled  the  highest  offices  in  the  gift  of  a 
free  people,  and  battened  upon  their  bounty)  presuming  to  dictate,  and 
by  the  mere  force  of  dogmatism  attempt  to  brow-beat  their  opponents, 
or  to  suppose  that  the  magic  influence  of  their  oratory  can  have  more 
swav  than  good  logic  and  sound  common  sense.     The   weakness  arid 
vanity  of  some  men  too  frequently  compel  us  to  lose  sight  of  whatever 
good  qualities  they  may  possess.     I  have  watched  with  anxiety  and  in- 
terest the   political   career  of  our  most  distinguished  Statesmen,  and 
with  the  varied  feelings  of  pleasure  and  dissatisfaction,  which  their  con- 
duct excited.     Among:  the  documents  which  the  last  session  of  Congress 
presented  to  the  public,  there  is  one  of  an  extraordinary  character,  and 
I  cannot  deceive  mvself  or  others,  by  dignifying  it  with  the  title  of  a  grave 
'State  paper,  as  I  think  it  may  be  more  properly  styled  a  philippic  agairst 
South-Carolina.     I  allude  to  the  "  Report  of  the  minority  of  the  Cor  • 
mittee  on  Manufactures,"  in  which  the  Southern  Planters  are  represent- 


12 

ed  in  an  unfavorable  point  of  view  ;  they  are  made  to  figure  as  poor  un- 
suspicious, uninfonned  beings,  whose  credulity  is  imp  >sed  upon  by  crafty 
and  desig'iinsf  men.  In  reference  to  the  Southern  Planter,  the  author  of 
the  Report  observes,  "  He  is  told  that  a  cruel,  tyrannical,  oppressive  ma- 
jority in  both  Houses  of  Congress  are  the  Representatives  of  this  High- 
wayman of  the  North,  [alluding  to  the  Tariff]  that  they  pervert  the  very 
pn  iciples  of  popular  Representation  to  the  purposes  of  oppression  and 
robbery — that  they  dare  not  open  their  hearts  to  the  sentiments  of  justice 
and  humanity.  He  is  told  all  this  and  he  believes  it."  The  intelligent 
planter  whose  understanding  is  so  much  underrated,  is  perhaps  as  com- 
petent as  the  author  himself  to  judge  of  the  merits  of  all  great  political 
questions  which  involve  his  rights,  and  the  general  welfare  of  the  United 
States ;  and  why  should  he  not  be  more  capable  than  men  who  spend 
many  years  at  foreign  courts,  and  who  become  strangers  to  what  is  pass- 
ing in  their  own  country.  I  can  assure  the  author  of  the  Report  that  he 
has  formed  both  a  prejudiced  and  erroneous  opinion  of  the  planters  of 
the  fcoufh.  If  he  will  take  the  trouble  to  visit  them,  he  will  find  that  they 
are  too  enlightened  and  independent  to  be  c,  joled  or  duped  by  any  man 
or  set  of  men.  Here  is  another  specimen  of  the  vindictive  spirit  which 
diet  »ted  the  following  tirade.  "And  behold  the  foundation  of  the  super- 
structure of  Nullification— -falsified  logic— falsified  history — falsified  con- 
stitute nal  law— falsified  morality— falsified  statistics — and  falsified  and 
slanderous  imputations  upon  the  majorities  of  both  Houses  of  Congress  for 
a  long  series  of  years — all — all  is  false  and  hollow."  Without  regarding 
the  tautology,  or  wishing  to  charge  the  author  with  being  more  influenced 
by  the  spirit  of  "  darkness  than  light"  in  this  effusion  of  invective  against 
the  nullifiers,  to  whom  he  has  never  shewn  the  least  mercy,  no  more  than 
he  would  have  bestowed  on  the  redoubtable  members  of  the  celebrated 
Hartford  Convention,  I  would  merely  beg  leave  to  express  a  hope  from 
my  respect  for  him,  that  out  of  charity  to  the  nullifiers,  he  will  in  future 
be  more  considerate,  and  I  will  not  be  so  uncharitable  as  to  accuse  him 
of  being  hard-hearted,  but  be  contented  with  applying  the  old  French 
saying  of  "  Un  saint  jean  louche  ePor. 

You  must  remember  the  outcry  that  was  made  by  our  political  oppo- 
nents, against  that  part  of  the  Ordinance  of  Nullification,  passed  at  the 
.first  session  of  our  Convention,  requiring  all  civil  and  military  officers  to 
take  ai  oath  to  obey  and  enforce  the  said  Ordinance;  and  at  the  last  ses- 
sion of  the  Convention,  it  was  ordained,  "  that  the  allegiance  of  the  citi- 
zens of  South-Carolina,  while  they  continued  such  is  due  to  the  said 
State,  and  that  obedience  only  and  not  allegiance  is  due  by  them  to  any 
other  power  or  authority,  to  whom  a  control  over  them  has  been,  or  may 
be  delegated  by  the  States,"  &c.  There  is  scarce  a  subject  on  which 
those  who  are  scrupulously  and  religiously  exact,  differ  so  much  as  on 
the  necessity  of  taking  an  oath  of  office  or  allegiance.  The  members  of 
the  society  of  friends  are  religiously  opposed  to  t«  k:ng  an  oath  and  are 
exempt  by  law.  Some  men  feel  a  strong  repugnance  to  lay  themselves 
under  so  sacred  an  obligation,  leist  the  frailty  of  their  nature  may  induce 
a  uepai  ture  from  the  strict  line  of  duty.  There  are  others  who  regard  it 


IS 

as  a  matter  of  form,  and  attach  little  or  no  importance  to  it  from  the  fre- 
quent violations  which  occur,  and  the  too  common  instances  of  the  crime 
of  perjury,  which  are  seldom  punished  with  proper  severity.     What  by 
common  usage  is  designated  a  test  oath  is  too  often  confounded  with 
oa'hs  of  a  political  nature.     Every  one  who  is  conversant  with  the  histo- 
ry of  England  mustrememher  that  under  the  reign  of  Charles  lid.,  in  the 
year  1673,  a  law  was  enacted,  entitled  "the  test  act,  imposing  an  oath 
on  all  who  shou.d  evjo   any  public  office."     "Besides  t  iking  the  oath  of 
allegiance,  a  id  the  Kings  supremacy,  they  were  obliged  to  receive  the 
sacrament  once  a  year  in  the  established  Church,  and  to  abjure  ail  belief 
i  '.  the  doc  rine  of  transubstantiation."     I  cannot  conceive  why  any  rea- 
sonaMe  man  should  object  to  take  an  oath  of  office,  or  to  swear  allegiance 
unless  he  his  prevented  by  his  religious  principles.     What  is  an  oath  but 
a  great  moral  tie  binding  a  citizen  to  be  faithful  to  his  public  duties,  or  to 
til'  country  which  protects  him.     In  this  free  Republic  there  is  no  com- 
pulsion, and  if  an  oath  is  imposed  by  an  express  law,  or  required  to  be 
taken  under  the  Constitution,  before  he  enters  on  the  duties  of  his  office 
he  can  withdraw  his  claim,  or  if  he  prefers  it,  let  him  leave  the  State. 
Was   I  destined  to   pass  my  days  in  the  free  State  of  Saxe-- Weimar  or 
Flanover,  and  be   dependent  for  my  maintenance  upon  either  of  them, 
and  enjoy  the  same  rights  wrh  a  native  subject,  I  would  certainly  without 
h<  sitation  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  should  consider  myself  wholly 
bound  to  be  obedient  to  the  laws  and  ready  to  defend  the  State  from  all 
aggressions  of  foreign  powers,  and  acts  of  tyranny  and  oppression  of  the 
Germanic  confederacy,  affecting  life,  liberty  and  property.     As  dearly 
AS  I  value  the  Union,  and  as  ardently  as  I  wish  that  harmony  and  prosperity 
should  prevail  in  every  section  of  it,  yet  lam  firmly  of  opinion  that  the 
first  duty  of  a  native  or  adopted  citizen  is  to  the  State  which  affords  him  a 
support ;  the  next  is  obedience  to  all  constitutional  laws  of  the  Federal 
Government.     I  should  indeed  be  a  recreant  son  of  that  State  which  has 
nourished  and  reared  me  if  I  did  not  consider  myself  bound  by  every  sa- 
cred tie  to  serve  her  in  good  and  in  evil  fortune.     The  subject  of  State 
Rights  may  appear  somewhat  complicated  to  those  who  do  not  under- 
stand it ;  the  variety  of  questions  which  it  involves  are  intimately  linked 
together,  and  all  rest  upon  the  strong  and  fundamental  laws  of  truth  and 
justice. 

In  a  former  letter  to  you,  I  ventured  to  make  a  few  remarks  on  the 
right  if  Secession,  I  shall  now  resume  the  subject  with  a  full  conviction 
on  my  mind  that  such  a  right  does  exist  from  the  very  circumstance 
alone  of  each  of  the  old  thirteen  States  having  entered  of  their  own  free 
will  into  a  confedeiacy  for  their  mutual  good,  and  from  which  they  or 
any  one  of  them  are  at  liberty  to  withdraw,  whenever  the  compact  which 
unites  them  is  violated.  This  position  I  believe  to  be  tenable,  and  cannot 
be  destroyed  by  any  argument  which  the  advocates  of  consolidation  may 
think  proper  to  advance.  I  am  borne  out  in  rry  opinion  by  the  authority 
of  some  o;  the  most  distinguished  Statesmen  and  Lawyers  of  the  United 
States.  IV'  r.  RAWLE,  in  his  work  on  the  Constitution  observes,*  "  The 

*  £«e  the  Chapter  on  the  permanence  of  the  Union. 


14 

•Secession  of  a  State  from  the  Union,  depends  on  the  will  of  the  people  of 
§uch  State."  And  in  the  next  page  he  says,  "  The  people  of  the  State 
m  iy  have  some  reasons  to  complain  in  respect  to  acts  of  the  General  Go- 
vernment, they  may  in  such  cases  invest  some  of  their  own  officers  with 
the  power  of  negotiation,  and  may  declare  an  absolute  Secession  in  case 
of  their  failure."  In  a  well  written  paper  published  a  few  years  ago  in 
one  of  the  numbers  of  the  Southern  Review,  on  the  Georgia  controversy, 
atid  ascribed  to  the  pen  of  Col.  DRAYTON,  the  right  of  a  State  to  secede 
is  admitted  in  the  most  positive  and  unequivocal  terms. 

I  will  now  call  your  attention  to  the  late  modification  of  the  Tariff.    In 
defiance  of  all  the  vapouring  and  terriffic  threats  of  the  sword  and  the 
bayonet ;  and  the  tremendous  force  of  a  "  million  of  musket  bearing 
freemen,"  who  were  to  annihilate  every  friend  of  Free  Trade  in  the 
United  States,  and  every  opponent  of  a  most  iniquitous  system  of  indirect 
taxation,  the  great  cause  of  truth  and  justice  has  prevailed.     The  stately 
American  eagle  continues  his  flight  with  all  his  wonted  majesty  and  pride 
without  losing  a  feather  from  his  wing ;  and  South- Carolina  remains 
where  I  trust  she  wiil  ever  be  found — in  the  Union — and  for  this  she  is  not 
only  indebted  to  her  own  glorious  efforts,  but  to  the  triumph  of  humanity 
over  vice,  and  wisdom  over  folly.     The  ocean  will  again  become  the  un- 
trammeled  highway  for  nations,  and  in  the  eloquent  words  of  the  illus- 
trious PATRICK  HENRY,  we  may  then  say,  "  Let  commerce  be  as  free  ag 
air,  she  will  range  the  whole  creation,  and  return  on  the  four  winds  of 
Heaven  to  bless  the  land  with  plenty."     Whatever  may  have  been  Mr. 
CLAY'S  political  sins,  he  has  in  a  great  measure  atoned  for  them  by  his 
magnanimous  conduct  at  the  close  of  the  last  session  of  Congress — anxi- 
ous to  avert  the  gathering  storm  which  threatened  to  destroy  the  Union, 
he  came  forward  as  a  mediator,  and   happily  succeeded  in  effecting  a 
compromise — thus  was  it  destined  that  the  very  man  who  had  contributed 
so  zealously  to  advocate  and  support  the  Tariff,  should  be  instrumental 
in  giving  a  fatal  blow  to  its  existence — such  is  the  mutability  of  human 
events !     By  this  act  he  has  raised  himself  in  the  estimation  of  the  people 
of  the  A  nti-Tariff  States,  and  by  this  act  he  has  placed  Kentucky  where 
nature  intended  she  should  be — in  a  situation  to  enjoy  all  the  advantages 
of  a  close  and  friendly  commercial  intercourse  with  her  sister  Carolina. 
Virginia  will  hail  with  joy  her  regenerated  son,  and  deck  his  brow  with  a 
c;tric  wreath,  more  pure  and  spotless  than  the  laurels  which  are  won  by 
nvl  tary  chieftains.     Few  men  when  put  to  the  trial  are  possessed  of  suf- 
ficient moral  courage  to  triumph  over  themselves.     In  the  late  contest  in 
the  Senate,  when  the  question  was  whether  the  act  of  1832,  should  re- 
main untouched,  or  be  repealed,  Mr.  CLAY,  whose  feelings  had  been  so 
warmly  enlisted  in  behalf  of  high  protective  duties,  yielded  them  for  the 
general  welfare;  and  by  that  means  gained  a  victory,  as  honorable  for 
himself,  HS  for  his  country.     I  confess  to  you,  that  he  was  the  last  man 
in  the  United  States,  from  whom  I  expected  a  proposition  for  a  compro- 
mise.    I  had  despaired,  when  to  my  joy,  I  learnt  that  a  redeeming  spirit 
existed,  which  I  sincerely  hope  may  continue  to  guide  and  aid  him  in 
completing  the  good  work  of  reform  he  has  so  liberally  commenced. 


15 

When  Mr.  CLAY'S  Bill  was  reported,  and  before  it  had  passed  in  the  Se- 
nate, I  had  formed  a  most  imperfect  and  hasty  opinion  of  it,  aiid  was  dis- 
posed to  view  it  as  a  device  to  assuage  the  wounded  feelings  of  the  South, 
and  only  lull  them  into  a  temporary  security.  The  Hill  is  undoubtedly  a 
peace  offering,  and  as  such  was  accepted  by  the  whole  So  ith:rn  delega- 
tion. Although  it  is  by  no  means  such  a  one  as  the  South  had  a  right  to 
desire,  yet  it  may  be  considered  as  a  victon,  and  in  the  main,  satisfactory 
to  the  friends  of  Free  Trade,  because  it  abandons  the  principle  of  protec- 
tion— promises  to  reduce  the  revenue  to  the  economical  wants  of  the  Go- 
vernment— gets  rid  of  the  odious  and  vexatious  minimum  duties  ;  and 
what  is  of  great  importance  to  the  commerce  of  the  Southern  States,  it 
exempts  from  duty  after  December  31,  1833,  linens,  worst*  d  stuffs  and 
silks.  The  objections  are,  the  length  of  time,  before  the  cinties  will  be 
brought  down  to  the  revenue  standard — the  home  valuation  n  nd  cash  du- 
ties. The  terms  are  advantageous  to  the  manufacturers,  aiul  they  nmy 
indeed  consider  themselves  highly  favored,  for  by  what  plea  o'  justice  had 
they  a  claim  to  as  much  as  has  been  granted  to  them  by  th  s  Bill  1  Do 
they  deriVe  any  from  their  wealth,  their  number,  or  their  merit  ?  The 
first,  our  Republican  principles  can  never  sanction — the  second  gives  them 
small  pretensions,  for  (including  old  and  young,  male  and  female,)  the 
whole  number  of  rich  stockholders  and  operatives  does  not  consist  of 
more  than  half  a  million,  out  of  a  population  of  thirteen  millions.  As  to 
the  last  I  will  not  be  so  ungenerous  as  to  cast  any  imputation  on  it.  Let 
them  confide  more  in  their  own  industry  and  resources,  and  less  in  the 
Government  for  success,  and  leave  the  rest  to  time  and  the  people. 
From  what  aera  can  we  with  more  propriety  date  our  prosperity  than  the 
presentt  and  under  what  more  favorable  circumstances  can  we  begin  the 
work  of  retrenchment  by  dispensing  with  the  services  of  supernumerary 
officers  of  custom-houses,  and  by  striking  off  from  the  pension  list  many 
who  are  in  the  enjoyment  of  fortunes,  more  than  competent  to  their  sup- 
port ?  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  relieve  the  people  from  all 
useless  burdens.  There  is  as  little  necessity  for  being  penurious  as  there 
is  for  being  guilty  of  a  lavish  expenditure  of  the  public  money,  which 
should  be  equally  and  equitably  distributed  among  all  the  States  without 
distinction.  The  national  debt  nearly  extinguished,  and  a  thousand  niil- 
lions  of  acres  of  public  lands  for  sale,  we  may  hope  for  a  long  series  of 
years  of  general  prosperity  and  harmony.  The  acceptance  of  Mr.  CLAY'S 
Bill  renders  it  almost  useless  for  me  to  notice  the  measures  of  the  Virginia 
Legislature  ;  I  must  remark,  however,  that  from  my  knowledge  of  the 
spirit  which  prevailed  among  the  sons  of  that  ancient  and  respectable 
State,  less  than  twenty  years  ago,  there  would  have  been  more  of  ardour 
and  zeal,  and  less  of  lukewarmness  than  has  lately  been  exhibited  in  the 
cause  of  Free  Trade  and  State  Rights ;  but,  with  such  men  as  UPSHUR, 
TAZEWELL,  FLOYD  and  JONES,  we  have  every  thing  to  hope  for  and  no- 
thing to  fear.  I  shall,  however,  never  cease  to  respect  the  motives  which 
dictated  the  appointment  of  Mr.  LEIGH,  as  commissioner ;  the  choice 
could  not  have  fallen  upon  a  more  amiable,  honorable  and  worthy  man, 
or  one  better  qualified  for  such  air  office  :  his  short  stay  in  Carolina,  en- 
deared'him  to  all  who  had  the  pleasure  of  his  acquaintance. 


16 

The  long  agitated  question,  whether  a  Tariff  act  for  the  protection  of 
manufactures,  can  be  considered  constitutional  has  been  generally  decid- 
ed as  both  uiijust  and  unconstitutional.  The  moral  turpitude  which  has 
been  universally  known  to  be  inseparable  from  an  oppressive  system  of 
indirect  taxation,  is  of  itself  sufficient  evidence  that  it  could  never  have 
been  contemplated  by  those  patriotic  Statesmen,  whose  combined  wisdom 
framed  the  Constitution,  that  duties  should  be  levied  for  the  protection  of 
manufactures ;  or  that  more  money  should  be  raised  than  would  be  suffi- 
cient for  the  wants  of  the  Government.  It  would  be  a  libel  on  their 
memory  to  charge  them  with  such  a  desisrn.  A  work  on  the  rights  of 
an  American  citizen,  written  by  BENJAMIN  L.  OLIVER,  of  Boston,  con- 
tains the  following  just  remarks,  "Can  it  be  imagined  then,  that  under 
such  a  power  to  regulate  trade,  Congress  has  a  constitutional  authority  to 
adopt  measures  injurious  to  it,  for  the  purpose  of  advancing  some  other 
interest  1  Certainly  not.  If  so  then  it  is  quite  clear  that  Congress  under 
the  power  of  regulating  trade,  has  no  constitutional  authority  to  lay  a  du- 
ty on  imports  for  the  mere  purpose  of  encouraging  manufactures."  The 
diifusion  of  knowledge  on  this  subject  by  such  able  and  distinguished  men 
as  HENRY  LEE,  of  Boston,  WADSWORTH,  of  New-York,  CLEMENT  BID- 
DLE,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Professor  DEW,  of  Virginia,  cannot  be  too 
highly  appreciated.  It  is  to  the  light  of  science  we  must  look  to  remove 
the  darkness  which  has  pervaded  the  Tariff  States,  and  concealed  from 
the  great  mass  of  the  population  their  true  interests.  It  is  from  the  works 
of  such  illustrious  writers  as  aFENELON,  ADAM  SMITH,  DUGALD  STEW- 
ART and  SAY,  that  we  should  seek  information,  and  not  rely  upon,  or  be 
led  astray  by  the  fallacious  theories  and  misrepresentations  of  shallow 
productions.  The  author  from  whom  I  have  just  quoted,  in  questioning 
the  right  of  Congres  to  levy  heavy  duties  for  the  protection  of  manufac- 
tures, and  in  commenting  on  the  expediency  of  the  measure,  observes, 
"  If  one  State  alone  is  to  suffer  in  its  trade,  yet  derive  little  or  no  advan- 
tage from  such  measures,  while  the  other  States  without  suffering  any 
material  disadvantage  in  their  commerce,  are  to  derive  the  whole  advan- 
tage of  such  measures,  this  will  be  wholly  contrary  to  the  true  intention 
of  the  parties  to  the  Constitution,  as  well  as  taking  a  very  unfair  and  dis- 
honorable advantage  of  the  State  thus  oppressed."  South-Carolina, 
although  she  took  a  conspicuous  part  in  resisting  the  injustice  of  the 
Tariff  acts  of  1828,  and  1832,  is  yet  only  one  of  nine  of  the  States 
which  have  been  oppressed.  Thousands  of  enlightened  men  of  the  mid- 
die  and  western  States,  although  they  kept  aloof  from  the  contest,  yet  I 
have  good  reason  to  believe  that  their  sympathy  was  extended  to  their 
friends  in  Carolina.  The  spell  which  has  so  long  bound  Ohio  and  Ken- 
tucky to  the  Tariff  monster  is  broken,  and  they  will  in  future  be  con« 
vinced  how  greatly  it  will  be  for  their  interest  to  devote  their  attention  to 
agriculture,  and  leave  manufactures  to  those  States  where  nature  has  not 
so  amply  provided  for  the  wants  of  man ,  and  where  the  population  is 
dense,  the  lands  poor,  and  the  climate  unfriendly  to  the  growth  of  the 
rich  products  of  the  soil. 

With  great  respect,  I  remain  yours, 

HEBHAHJfff 


LETTER  OF  "HERMANN," 


PUBLISHED  IN   THE   "EXAMINER" 


OF  THE  17th  SEPTEMBER,  1834. 


"The  last  question  discussed  in  the  Report  on  the  Bank  question,  by  the  Senate's  com- 
mittee, is,  "  What  has  been  the  management  of  the  Bank  ?"  And  the  answer  is  summed 
up  as  follows : — "  The  Bank,  in  the  last  eleven  years,  has  overcome  all  the  difficulties 
which  stood  in  its  way ;  has  given  to  its  notes  a  universal  circulation,  redeemable  where 
foever  presented,  has  increased  the  circulation  from  four  to  twenty  millions;  has  facili- 
tated domestic  exchanges  by  diminishing  its  rates;  and,  by  increasing  the  annual 
amount  purchased  from  seven  to  seventy  millions,  has  purified  the  general  currency, 
and  has  doubled  the  profits  of  the  Bank  itself."— National  Gazette. 


LETTER,    &c. 


The  Bank. — We  give  place  in  this  day's  Examiner,  to  a  communication  from  our  old 
correspondent  "Hermann,"  whose  name  is  well  known  to  the  readers  of  our  former  paper, 
the  Banner  of  the  Constitution.  He  was  a  firm  friend  of  Mr.  Jackson,  prior  to  his  Pro- 
clamation of  the  10th  of  December,  1832.  and  only  abandoned  him,  as  other  honest  men 
did,  when  he  deserted  the  principles,  for  his  advocacy  of  which,  he  was  elected  to  the 
Presidency.  The  zeal  displayed  by  our  correspondent  for  the  re-charter  of  the  Bank, 
has  no  connexion  with  private  interest,  as  we  are  assured  that  he  does  not  possess  a  share 
of  its  stock,  but,  as  in  other  instances,  has  probably  been  produced  by  the  indignation 
excited  ai  the  means  resorted  to  by  Mr.  Jackson,  in  order  to  accomplish  its  overthrow. 

In  publishing  this  communication,  we  are  not  to  be  considered  as  responsible  for  its 
contents.  Whilst  we  accord  with  it  fully  in  its  denunciation  of  the  unlawful  procedure 
of  seizing  upon  the  public  purse,  as  well  as  in  the  testimony  it  bears  to  the  respectability 
of  the  Presidentand  Directors  of  the  Bank,  we  have  seen  no  reason  to  change  our  origi- 
nal opinion  of  the  unconstitutionality  of  any  corporation  chartered  by  the  Federal  govern- 
ment.— Examiner. 

MR.  EDITOR, — During  the  present  agitated  state  of  the  public  feeling, 
permit  an  old  correspondent  to  solicit  your  attention  to  that  which  should 
continue  to  engage  the  thoughts  of  all  classes  of  the  community — "  the 
removal  of  the  Public  Deposites" — a  political  offence  that  has  no  parallel 
in  any  free  nation  of  the  world.  If  an  enlightened  people  resolve  not  to 
submit  to  a  domineering  faction,  and  to  be  neither  inveigled  or  bullied  out 
of  their  rights,  and  reduced  to  a  state  of  vassalage  ;  then  let  them,  as  they 
regard  the  country  which  is  endeared  to  them  by  the  most  sacred  ties,  and 
which  gave  birth  to  the  venerated  Washington  and  Franklin,  never  suffer 
this  subject  to  be  buried  in  oblivion,  for  the  same  power  which  has  so 
shamefully  violated  the  public  faith,  and  trampled  on  the  laws  of  the  land, 
is  prepared  with  the  sword  and  purse  at  command,  to  destroy  every  vestige 
of  freedom,  unless  the  arm  of  the  usurper  is  arrested,  and  his  myrmidons, 
who  are  fattening  on  the  ill-gotten  spoils  of  a  much  injured  country,  are 
driven  from  office.  If  I  could  be  inspired  with  the  spirit  of  a  Junius,  I 
would  devote  my  pen  to  rouse  the  people  from  their  apathy,  and  call  on 
them  to  efface  the  foul  stain  from  the  character  of  the  nation  which  it  has 
received,  and  to  cleanse  the  public  offices,  some  of  which  (like  the  Augean 
Stable)  are  so  filled  with  corruption,  as  to  require  a  Herculean  labour  to 
rid  them  of  it.  In  addressing  you  in  the  language  of  truth  and  common 
sense,  I  do  assure  you,  that  under  their  influence,  I  have  endeavored 
through  the  course  of  my  life,  to  be  guided  by  republican  principles.  I 
have  never  sought,  nor  do  I  covet  office.  I  defy  the  shaft  of  calumny,  and 
despise  the  sophistry,  petty  intrigue,  and  mean  subterfuge  of  unprincipled 
men,  whether  they  move  in  private  or  public  stations.  I  have  been,  as 
you  well  know,  a  warm  and  disinterested  eulogist  of  the  present  chief 
magistrate  of  the  United  States.  That  time  is  past — all  men  are  liable  to 
err — and  I  am  free  to  confess  that  I  have  been  deceived.  When  I  found 
him  deviating  from  the  path  of  political  rectitude,  and  surrounded  by  a 
horde  of  satellites,  composed  of  sycophants  and  time-serving  minions, 
ready  to  crouch  at  the  footstool  of  the  Dictator,  my  heart  sickened  with 


disgust.  Has  he  not  rejected  the  friendly  counsel  of  the  most  upright, 
sensible  and  honorable  men  of  the  nation,  to  gratify  a  set  of  cringing  hypo- 
crites, and  ravenous  office-hunters'?  Posterity  may  do  justice  to  Andrew 
Jackson,  as  the  hero  of  New-Orleans,  but  his  conduct  as  President  of  the 
United  States,  will  be  condemned  for  the  unnatural  and  ferocious  part  he 
was  eager  to  act  against  his  native  State,  (South-Carolina,)  whose  chival- 
ric  and  patriotic  sons  had  the  courage  to  redress  their  own  grievances,  and 
prove  how  dangerous  it  is  to  infringe  the  rights  of  a  gallant  and  indepen- 
dent people  with  impunity;  and  I  am  happy  to  say  that  thousands  who 
were  disposed  to  unite  in  supporting  the  odious  and  tyrannical  measures  of 
the  President  against  the  Nullifiers,  now  nobly  acknowledge  their  error, 
and  have  adopted  their  doctrines,  and  for  one  man  in  1832,  who  exclaimed 
against  nullification,  there  are  a  thousand  who  now  rest  their  faith  on  State 
Rights  and  State  Remedies. — uTempora  mutantur  et  nos  mutamar  in  illis." 

I  will  not  trespass  much  longer  on  your  patience,  as  it  forms  no  part  of 
my  purpose  to  notice  particularly  the  various  abuses  and  flagrant  acts  of 
injustice,  with  which  the  administration  is  charged, — the  chief  of  which  are, 
that  precious  piece  of  fustian,  the  Proclamation, — the  FORCE  BILL, — Pro- 
test,—  Corruption  of  the  Post  Office  Department — Land  Office,  &c.  &c. 
&c.  My  object  is  to  confine  your  attention  to  the  gross  outrage  commit- 
ted by  the  President,  and  in  defiance  of  the  public  opinion,  in  wantonly 
violating  the  Bank  charter,  by  a  removal  of  the  Deposites ;  contrary  to 
the  interests  of  the  people,  and  without  the  consent  of  Congress. 

Sir,  I  blush  for  the  honor  of  my  country,  when  I  consider  that  this  rash 
step,  which  would  bring  the  kingly  head  of  a  free  state  to  the  block,  was 
the  deed  of  a  republican  President,  and  too  passively  submitted  to  by  a 
republican  people.  The  day  of  retribution  is  at  hand,  when  political  de- 
linquents must  answer  for  their  transgressions.  At  the  approaching  elec- 
tions, the  people  should  be  reminded  of  the  Removal  of  the  Deposites,  and 
not  suffer  the  question  of  Bank  or  no  Bank,  to  make  them  forget  the  duty 
they  owe  to  their  country,  in  removing  those  public  servants,  who  sanc- 
tioned the  outrage  by  their  votes  in  Congress.  If  they  will  not  avail  them- 
selves of  the  right  of  calling  on  their  legislatures  to  compel  the  merchants 
to  pay  the  amount  of  their  bonds  to  the  United  States  Bank,  they  must 
trust  to  the  tardy  operation  of  the  Ballot  Box  for  redress.  As  to  the  Bank, 
it  has  stood  like  a  rock  in  the  sea,  unmoved  by  the  dashing  of  the  foaming 
billows.  The  ungenerous  manner  in  which  it  has  been  assailed  and  tra- 
duced, and  the  repeated  attempts  made  to  criminate  the  President  and 
Directors,  have  been  met  by  a  manly,  fair  and  honorable  spirit,  which, 
while  it  has  elevated  their  character  in  the  public  estimation,  and  confirmed 
the  utility  of  this  great  national  institution,  has  exposed  the  blind  infatua- 
tion of  its  enemies.  The  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  the  Bank  is  undi- 
minished,  and  the  monied  interests  of  the  government  and  stockholders 
have  been  conducted,  both  under  the  administration  of  Mr.  Cheves  and 
Mr.  Biddle,  with  the  most  rigid  regard  to  honor  and  punctuality.  What 
greater  proof  can  be  given  of  the  high  respectability  and  soundness  of  the 
Bank,  than  the  perfect  confidence  reposed  in  it  by  foreigners  in  every 
part  of  the  world.  The  liberality  which  it  has  exhibited  on  numerous 
occasions,  has  called  forth  universal  approbation.  In  many  instances,  it 
has  sustained  some  of  the  local  Banks,  and  saved  them  from  bankruptcy. 
It  is  also  generally  known,  that  in  1832,  the  Bank  negociated  bills  to  the 
amount  of  $120,000,000,  without  charge  or  premium.  The  learned  Dr. 
Cooper,  of  Columbia,  in  South-Carolina,  has  truly  remarked,  that  the  Bank 
"  has  not  only  proved  itself  an  institution  of  great  public  utility,  but  has 
been  in  no  instance  the  tool  of  a  political  party." 


Although  the  constitution  has  not  provided  for  the  establishment  01  a 
national  bank,  and  many  persons  object  to  a  re-charter,  solely  on  this  ac- 
count, yet  when  it  has  been  found  from  experience  how  necessary  it  has 
been  to  the  commercial  prosperity  of  every  State  of  the  Union,  we  ought 
to  yield  much  to  the  general  good.  Without  the  United  States  Bank,  we 
might  be  placed  at  the  mercy  of  a  set  of  political  sharpers,  or  subjected  to 
the  unreasonable  demands  of  brokers  ; — without  this  Bank,  trade  would 
suffer  much  embarrassment,  and  consequently,  produce,  houses,  land  and 
labor,  would  greatly  depreciate,  and  as  a  safe  place  of  deposite,  it  could 
have  no  rival.  What  will  become  of  the  public  treasure,  if  left  to  a  corrupt 
President,  aided  by  a  more  corrupt  legislation  ?  It  would  probably  be 
squandered  away  in  bribery  at  elections,  or  in  paying  and  supporting  po- 
litical knaves  and  spendthrifts — and  this  would  eventuate  in  national  bank- 
ruptcy, and  heavy  direct  taxes.  If  the  ruthless  warfare  now  waged  by 
General  Jackson  against  the  Bank,  should  effect  its  downfall,  the  people 
will  not  know  how  to  estimate  the  loss,  until  they  feel  the  serious  inconve- 
niences arising  from  it.  The  Bank  was  first  charted  under  the  adminis- 
tration of  General  Washington.  Whatever  that  great  and  good  man  deem- 
ed expedient  for  the  welfare  of  his  country,  proved  right, — his  example  has 
been  followed  by  every  successive  administration,  except  Andrew  Jackson. 
It  is  not  too  late  for  him  to  lay  aside  his  animosity  and  personal  prejudi- 
ces,; he  is  accused  of  being  of  a  vindictive  spirit ;  let  him  come  forward, 
and  convince  us  to  the  contrary.  General  Washington  had  no  great  diffi- 
culty in  conquering  his  enemies  in  the  field,  but  his  chief  merit  consisted 
in  making  friends  of  his  enemies,  and  in  subduing  the  greatest  enemy  of 
all,  his  passions !  and  in  so  doing,  he  evinced  true  greatness  of  mind.  Let 
General  Jackson  cease  to  be  the  President  of  a  faction,  and  repair,  if  pos- 
sible, the  injuries  he  has  done,  before  he  <can  ever  hope  for  forgiveness 
from  a  free  and  generous  people.  There  is  no  want  of  highly  honorable 
and  zealous  defenders  of  the  Constitution  and  Freedom  in  both  Houses  of 
Congress,  who  have  faithfully  done  their  duty.  I  trust  in  God  there  is  a 
redeeming  spirit,  which  will  rescue  this  once  happy |  but  now  degraded 
country,  from  impending  ruin,  and  revive  those  halcyon  days,  when  the 
United  States  enjoyed  uninterrupted  prosperity,  and  our  citizens  were 
proud  of  preserving  their  rights  and  privileges  unimpaired. 

Yours,  truly, 

HERMANN. 


PRINTED  BY  A.  E.  MILLER,  NO.  4.  BROAD-ST. 


F14  DAY  USE 
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